


Not This Time, Mister Potter

by catspaw439



Series: Time Mister Potter [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-26
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2017-12-13 00:38:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 36
Words: 77,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/817902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catspaw439/pseuds/catspaw439
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Due to a rebellious Grim Reaper Voldemort did not die at the battle of Hogwarts. Now 8 years later Harry and Moldy Shorts are battling once again and when Voldemort's new spell helps him gain the upper hand in sending Harry to the afterlife, Harry is given a chance to go back in time to change things. Title change Little if any fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An introduction to the story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I don't own anything you recognize. Critisism is appreciated. Flames are not. Don't flame me.

“It is the end moldy shorts”said Harry as he dodged a killing curse. 

Harry Potter and the one known as Lord Voldemort had been battling for the last hour. It was clearly taking its toll on them, for they were both sweating profusely. 

However both seem determined to win and so neither were giving up anytime soon. This was Harry Potter's last chance. Since the Battle of Hogwarts, almost 8 years ago, the war had been going badly for both sides.

It was a little worse for the order. Many members had died these past eight years. Ron, Ginny and Hermione were long gone. At this point Harry Potter was the last one. The rest had fallen around him. By this time Harry hated Voldemort with a passion. He had taken everyone he loved from him. Harry had shed many tears. So many that he was all cried out.

The beginning of the end of the war began with the Battle of Hogwarts. After Harry arose from the dead, the battle was taken into the entrance hall and from there into the great hall. No one knew where Harry was. For he was under his invisibility cloak. Just as Harry was about to reveal himself, and reinforcements were continuing to arrive in the hall, Voldemort, the coward that he was, called for his forces to retreat. 

The remaining teachers and students chased Voldemort and his death eaters from the hall, all the way across the grounds and through the barrier where they apparated. At that point Harry took off his invisibility cloak and swore. There went his chance to defeat Voldemort once and for all.

After Harry's surprise revelation, the order worked very hard to regather its members and to come up with a plan. The golden trio, as they were called, were most concerned that Voldemort would make more horcruxes. A spike of pain through Harry's scar soon put to rest that concern though. It seemed as though Voldemort's soul was so torn and there was so little left that he was unable to make any more horcruxes. 

Little did they know that that was the only good news they would have for a long time. In September of that year, not long after the term had started for Hogwarts, the remainder of Voldemort's death eaters pushed through the barriers of the school and blew Hogwarts sky high along with the remaining teachers and many students. 

The years that followed were grim as one by one the order members were killed in battle. Thousands of muggles were dying as well. It seemed as though the death eaters would win for no matter how many they killed, it seemed there was another there to take their place.

Ron had died two years previously in a battle to protect what remained of the Ministry of Magic. Hermione had died just four months later from an ambush not far from the remains of the magical library were she had been researching new spells. It had been a last-ditch effort for Voldemort had ransacked it long ago. 

Ginny had been killed a year and a half before Ron while hiding not far from where the Burrow had once stood. The last of the order members had fought and died just an hour ago with the last of Voldemort's death eaters. They had set up a trap in a warehouse in what remained of downtown muggle London for them. One that they couldn't resist, for the order had let leak that all the order members and Harry Potter would be there.

They had hoped the Voldemort himself would show up so they could take out all the death eaters and Voldemort, but it hadn't worked. The warehouse had blown before Voldemort got there. He had shown up just moments later and as he had stood there laughing. Harry had then emerged from nearby where he had been waiting for Voldemort and they began their duel. The duel that would end the war one way or another.

And so we come to where our story began with Harry and Voldemort battling it out in the middle of London, not far from the smoldering remains of the warehouse. All of a sudden, in the middle of the battle Voldemort suddenly stopped and then vanished in a poof of purple and silver glittering smoke. 

As Harry Potter looked around in confusion, he suddenly heard a puff of breath by his ear and a very familiar voice hiss “Goodbye Harry Potter. Avada Kedavra!”

And before Harry could turn around to face him, it was too late. He was drifting off to the next great adventure. Or was he?

~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Where am I?” Thought Harry. “Moldy Shorts Avada Kedavraed me. I should be dead. ” 

Harry James Potter was currently floating through a whiteness, a whiteness that was familiar from that day almost eight years ago, but yet different. If he was there, then where was Dumbledore. The whiteness was a whiteness that was as thick as pea soup or peanut butter depending on who you asked. The surroundings that were exceedingly blurry, soon came into focus.

He quite suddenly realized that he was sitting in a very comfortable chair in front of a rather large oak desk. Sitting behind the desk were four very large filing cabinets. On either side of him were bookcases that had binders of all colors sitting on them. The walls were white and unadorned. However the carpet was a bright sky blue color. 

The chair sitting behind the desk was identical to the one in which Harry was sitting. It was a rather large black office desk chair. Upon the desk was what looked like a newer sleeker version of the computer that that Dudley had gotten for his 11th birthday. The rest of the desk was covered with file folders that were arranged neatly in several piles.

As Harry had been looking around, he had not realized that someone had walked into the office behind him.

“You like my office Harry?” asked a strange silky voice behind him, that he had never heard before. Harry was so startled that he jumped and turned around. 

“I think it needs a bit more color myself, and definitely some wall decorations, but no doilies. I despise doilies with a passion.” said the strange woman who had come in behind him. ”Then again I've been so busy. What with all the people who've been dying lately. It really is a shame. This office has so much potential.”

“Wh wh who are you?” stuttered Harry. 

“Oh my dear boy. So sorry. I have forgotten my manners. My name is Acara. I am your Grim Reaper.” 

 

“My Grim Reaper?” Asked Harry hesitantly. “So I am dead then.” Sighed Harry. 

“Not quite.” Stated Acara as if it was obvious.

Harry stared at Acara in shock. As he stared at her he took in her appearance. She was a woman who appeared in her mid-twenties and of average height. She had long dark brown hair that hung loose to her waist. Her eyes were a startling Avada Kedavra green. A green that was even greener than Harry's if that could be possible. 

She had very pale skin that looked even paler in the floor length dark blue strapless dress she was wearing. She had on fingerless gloves that were the same color as her dress. In her arms she carried a folder that had the name Harry James Potter scrawled along the top in elegant cursive.

“I suppose you're wondering what I mean by you're not dead yet.” Said Acara snapping Harry back to the present conversation. 

“Yeah. What happened? On moment I was facing Voldemort and the next thing I know he is going up in this sparkling purple silver flash. And then he is instantly behind me saying Avada Kedavra and then end up in whiteness and then here. What happened? Can you tell me?” Ranted Harry 

“Slow down slow down. Now I will answer all of your questions if you just hold on.” Stated Acara soothingly. 

Harry, who didn't know, he had been breathing fast, slowly calmed down. As he settled back into his seat, Acara went on to explain “Today as the battle in the warehouse between your order members and the death eaters raged, Lord Voldemort or as we here like to call him ,the evil dude who cheated death and who we all want to see end up in the deepest pits of hell, practiced a new spell he had found in one of the books in the magical library. It was called the duplicabit meipsum* spell. 

It is a very advanced duplication spell that duplicates ones self. The Voldemort you were first fighting was the duplicate. Voldemort had sent him ahead just in case it was a trap. Then the real Voldemort showed up and finding his duplicate facing you, first canceled the duplicate spell and then avada kedavaraed you.”

“So I really am dead!” Shouted Harry. 

“Calm down you child and listen to me a moment.” Acara shouted at Harry. “If you will recall” said Acara in a calmer but still irritated voice “I said you were not dead.”

“Oh yeah” said Harry sheepishly. 

“Now if you will allow me to continue” said Acara in a patronizing voice. Harry nodded. “In normal circumstances you would be dead however today's battle was never meant to occur.” Harry just looked at her with a confused expression on his face. 

“Eight years ago at what was known as the Battle of Hogwarts Voldemort was not supposed to run. You were meant to kill him that day.” Acara continued sadly. “However one of our own interfered by whispering in Voldemort's ear about how he would die if he stayed, so he retreated. We here in the afterlife take this very seriously.

There are strict rules in place that usually prevent such a thing. Most of the deaths of these last eight years were because of him. Your friends Ron, Hermione, and Ginny are three such cases. It is sad that until now we were not able to fix any of these mistakes.” 

“Why not?” Harry asked in a very loud voice. “Ron, Hermione, and Ginny could be alive if you had interfered! There would be alive!”

“Sit down child! Do not make me tell you again!” Acara yelled right back at him. “I said we could not interfere until now. You do not think we wanted to interfere because we most certainly did however we couldn't. We were trapped by our own rules. 

Our rules that clearly state that we could not interfere with the living. However now that you are here we can start undoing these mistakes that been caused by my ex-colleague.” 

Very slowly Harry calmed down and sat back in his chair once again. “Why does my being here make a difference?” Asked Harry 

“It's quite simple really.” Acara stated “We send you back with all of your knowledge and you can undo these mistakes for us because we can't.” 

“You could do such a thing?” Asked Harry.

“Indeed we can Mr. Potter. Though it's only done in extreme cases and emergencies, mainly in the few times throughout history when one of our own has interfered. If you accept your mission you will be sent back to the beginning of your first year at Hogwarts. In fact you will be sent back to the very day that you got your first Hogwarts letter with all of your memories intact.” 

“I thought you said that Voldemort was supposed to die at the Battle of Hogwarts? So why am I being sent back so early?” Asked Harry. 

“We are sending you back so early so that you are able to save not only your friends, Ron, Hermione,and Ginny, but all of those who died in this war. We find that it is only fair that since Stephen, that's my ex-colleague by the way, messed up your world so much that we should give something back to you.” Acara said. 

“So I'll be able to save everyone? Cedric and Dumbledore and Sirius and Tonks and Lupin and everyone I knew that died in the Battle of Hogwarts?” Asked Harry in a stunned voice. 

“Indeed you shall” Acara stated

“What do I have to do?” Asked Harry as he steadily rose from his chair. Then he paused “Wait. Couldn't you send me back to a time when I could save my parents as well?” 

“I am sorry Harry but no. It was your parents time. Without their deaths, you would never had been marked and Voldemort would go on to rule the world. Do you understand?” Acara asked compassion all but escaping from her eyes. Harry nodded a bit sadly. 

“Do you still want to do this Mr. Potter? It'll be hard. You can't let Dumbledore know what you're up to and you certainly can't let anyone know you have knowledge from the future.” Acara said. 

“Why can't I?” asked Harry. 

“Dumbledore is a good man don't get me wrong Harry, but forgive me but he is also a meddling old fool. He might in his infinite wisdom,” here she said these words with sarcasm “decide to obliviate you for your own good and for the greater good believing that you could interfere with his plans for the greater good and make things worse. He isn't infallible you know.” Acara stated sadly. 

“I know but would he really obliviate me?” Harry asked. 

“I'm afraid he might.” Acara said. 

Harry sighed “What about my friends? Why can't I tell them that I have knowledge from the future?”

“I understand why you would want to tell your friends, but your knowledge shall already affect the time line in who knows what unexpected ways. There's just too many variables. I can't even begin to predict what could happen if you told your friends. Something extremely bad could occur. It is not extremly likely to happen, but we can't take that chance.

Not to mention that our rules clearly state that no one on earth is to know what happens here. We are making an exception for you. Do you understand what I'm getting at Harry?” Acara explained. 

“I suppose so. Though I don't like it. It'll be so hard to keep this secret from my friends.”said Harry with a sad sigh. 

“That's just one of the troubles will have to face if you decide to go back Harry. Are you sure you want to do this?” Asked Acara.

“If I have a chance to save them then of course I'll take a chance matter how much trouble I have to face.” Said Harry with determination.

“Very well.” Stated Acara. “Just so you know when you return the ministry will not be able to track your magic.” Harry looked at her with a dumbfounded look on his face. 

“I can see you're wondering why that is.” Said Acara bemusedly. “It's quite simple. Magic is not connected to the body like the ministry of magic seems to think. It is connected to the soul. As long as the soul is 17 years or older the ministry cannot track magic that the person performs. Since your soul is 25 years of age, they will not be able to track you.” 

“Cool.” Said Harry. “When can I go?” 

“Immediately if you already.”said Acara. 

“I am.” Said Harry. “Well there is one more thing if you don't mind me asking. What ever happened to Stephen?” Asked Harry. 

“You really do not want to know.” stated Acara with a devilish grin, as the office Harry was seated in began to fade around him. “You really do not want to know.”


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry goes to Diagon Alley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recoginze. Thanks for reading!

As the world faded back in around Harry, he slowly awoke. At first he was confused. The world around him was still blurry. He wondered why that was. Then all of a sudden a yell was heard, “Up! Get up! Now!”

The yelling continued with a yelled “Up!”. 

Harry wondered who it was that was yelling. The last thing he remembered was… All of a sudden he shot up from the bed if that was what you could call what he was laying on. He remembered everything. Voldemort! The war! the last battle that had taken place! Acara! He remembered Acara saying he was being sent back in time with his memories said he could change things. Actually change things and save everybody! 

He could hardly believe it, but it was true! He looked around, and realized he couldn't see anything. Now where is that blasted string to the light? He finally found it and pulled. Sure enough he was in his cupboard under the stairs, from what he could tell anyway without his glasses. He reached beside him and found them.

Then he heard, “Are you up yet?” Harry realize she was probably waiting for an answer and so said, “Nearly.”

“Well, get a move on, I need you out her cooking breakfast now.” Said Aunt Petunia as Harry suddenly realized it actually was that was calling him.

He really had been sent back. Harry could hardly believe, he was back on Privet Drive. It'd been so long since he called the place home. Then Harry realized what he had just thought. He didn't consider Privet Drive his home anymore. The blood wards! 

They would have fallen. Harry realized he had to get out of there very quickly before Dumbledore showed up and started asking questions. He didn't want to have to deal with him before he arrived at Hogwarts. First things first. He had to get his letter.

He quickly got dressed, and left his cupboard. There was no time to lose. He knew Dumbledore would show up any second. Hopefully his letter would arrive soon. 

He quietly slipped out the front door making sure it closed softly behind him. As soon as he stepped outside the door something smacked right into his forehead. Pulling it off his glasses he looked at it. It was his letter. Perfect timing. It was exactly as Harry remembered it. It said on the front: Mr. H. Potter  
the Cupboard under the stairs  
4 Privet Drive  
Little Whinging  
Surrey

'Excellent' thought Harry. 'First before anything else though', Harry thought as he ran away from Privet Drive, 'I have to get to Diagon Alley.'

Just as he rounded the corner into the alleyway where he was planning to apparate, he heard the telltale pops apparition behind him. ' Dumbledore' thought Harry. He had gotten away just in time.  
As soon as he gone to the alleyway and looked around to see if there is anyone there, there wasn't, he was about to turn on his heel but then stopped. If he want walking into Diagon Alley as he was now, everybody would recognize him. He certainly did not want that.

He quickly, using wandless magic, conjured a mirror. What he saw shocked him at first. His scar was barely there. He could only see it if he looked very very closely. He spent 10 min. trying to figure out why that was. 

Finally he realized that he must not be a horcrux anymore. It would make sense. His soul was 25 years old and had not had the horcrux attached to it. Therefore when he went back in time, the horcrux was not there to come with it. Since his soul replaced that of his younger self the horcrux that was in his younger self's soul must have been destroyed. 

With that thought Harry was reminded that all of Voldemort's horcruxes were around again. At least there was one less to deal with this time. He would worry about that later when he had time to think. Right now he had to change his appearance quickly and get out of there.

He quickly turned his hair auburn and made it slightly longer and curlier. He also changed his eyes into a shade of light brown. Looking in the mirror he looked very little like himself. He transfigured his oversize clues into some light blue robes. He then spun on his heel and apparated, into a little used alley, in Diagon Alley.  
~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~

The first thing that occurred to Harry, as he walked out of the alley he had apparated into, was all the noise. The last time he had seen Diagon Alley, it was in shambles. Voldemort attacked it near the beginning of the war, and utterly destroyed it. Therefore it was a bit weird for Harry to see the alley as it was supposed to be.

He looked around in awe. Everything was so bright and colorful. It was wonderful for Harry to see the alley this way. All the shops were still standing, and the alley was filled with people, doing their school shopping no doubt. He was quickly broken out of his reverie when somebody ran into him and then yelled, “Watch where you're going kid!”

Harry quickly made his way towards his first stop, Gringotts. He had to get his money first. As he passed through the doors he looked upon the warning that he had looked upon once before.  
Enter, stranger, but take heed  
of what awaits the sin of greed,  
for those who take, but do not earn,  
must pay most dearly in their turn.  
So if you seek beneath our floors  
a treasure that was never yours,  
thief, you have been warned, beware  
of finding more than treasure there.  
He almost laughed aloud as the memories of riding a dragon through the bowels of Gringotts came back to him. He however did not, just barely. Instead, he got into the shortest line for a teller.

When it was his turn, he gave a short bow to the goblin in front of him and said in gobbledygook, “May your gold flow master goblin.” to say everyone, especially the goblin, looked at him in surprise is an understatement. 

After a moment the goblet replied, also gobbledygook, “and may you crush all your enemies.”

“Now master goblin I would like to see my accounts manager.” Said Harry in English. “Right away Mr...?” Said the goblin also in English. 

Discreetly casting mufliato silently and wandlessly first, Harry said, “Mr. Harry Potter. I would like to keep my identity hidden for this moment in time, understand me?”

“Of course Mr. Potter. We here at Gringotts are most discreet. First, I must verify your identity.” Said the goblin. 

“Of course.” Said Harry. 

The goblin withdrew a dagger from his drawer as well as a piece of parchment. “Just prick your finger and let a single drop of blood onto the parchment. If you are who you say you are, the parchment will turn blue, if not then well you'd rather not find out.” Said the goblin with a smirk on his face.

Harry took the dagger from the goblin and did as he said. The parchment turned a blue just a few shades darker than the robe he was wearing. “Good. Now Mr. Potter if you would take down your silencing charm I will escort you to account manager Griphook's office.” Said the goblin. Harry did as asked.

It was a short walk through the doorway and down the short hallway till they came upon account manager Griphook's office. the goblin escorting Harry knocked loudly, and when they heard, “Enter.” they entered. 

“Mr. Harry Potter to see you sir.” Said the goblin in gobbledygook. Griphook looked up from his work.

“May your gold flow master Griphook.” Said Harry with a short bow. 

“And may you crush all your enemies Mr. Potter.” Replied Griphook. “Ah. I have been expecting you Mr. Potter.”

“You have?” Said Harry. 

“I have indeed.” Said Griphook. “You are about to turn 11 are you not Mr. Potter?” 

“Yes master Griphook I am.” Said Harry. 

“What with your parents gone Mr. Potter you were to be informed on your 11th birthday about all of your accounts here at Gringotts. Your magical guardian was supposed to bring you here and ask to be informed of your accounts” Said Griphook. 

“I was not informed of this. I am here on my own accord.” Said Harry. 

“No matter the circumstances Mr. Potter you are here now. how may help you?” Said Griphook.

 

“I am here to be informed of my accounts and to withdrawal money.”said Harry. 

“Very good Mr. Potter. I me take a look at your account.” He went through a piece of parchment and waved his hand over it. Writing appeared. Griphook handed it to Harry. It said:

 

Potter account:  
Vaults: 637 – 1000 galleons ( trust vault)  
27 –25 million galleons, 10million galleons worth of paintings jewelry and other items (family vault)  
properties:Potter mansion (Scotland unplottable)  
Beau Lis ( France unplottable)

“I'm a millionaire?” Asked Harry. 

“Yes indeed Mr. Potter” said Griphook.

 

Harry was very irritated to say the least. He couldn't believe that Dumbledore had hid this from him in his previous life! Oh well. No use dwelling over spilt potion.

“Very well master Griphook. I would like to transfer all the galleons from my trust vault into the family vault and then make a withdrawal.” Said Harry. 

“It will be done.” Said Griphook. Quickly called goblin to him and the request was carried out.

"Hey Griphook." Harry said as he was escorted to the cart.

"Yes. Mr. Potter." Griphook stated.

"How come I can access my family vault if I am only ten?" Harry asked.

"That is simple Mr. Potter. Each family vault has their own requirements. Your family's magic decides when an heir is able to gain access to the vaults. You were able to read the parchment with your family's statements on it so you have access to it."

That was simply though probably more complicated than it seemed. Almost before Harry knew it he was being escorted by Griphook into the cart. Down through the bowels of Gringotts they rode, going very very fast. Harry rode deeper into the bowels of Gringotts then he had ever road before except for that one time during their ill-advised attempt at robbing Bellatrix LeStrange's vault. It wasn't too long before they came to a halt near vault 27.

There was a dragon there. It looked very much like the one near the LeStrange's vault but not exactly. Griphook took out the clankers, and started shaking them. He then pressed his palm to the outside of vault 27, and they were in.

The sight inside took Harry's breath away. There was mountains of gold and piles of silver and bronze. Wherever Harry's eyes looked, as they darted around almost frantically, there was new things to see. There were paintings and tapestries and jewelry of all kinds. Emeralds and rubies and diamonds the size of his fist. 

There was furniture too. There was also books, more books than he could count. There was also armor and weapons, swords and daggers. It was a breath taking sight, and take a breath Harry finally did after realizing he had been holding it.

Harry wanted to look around for a very long time and catalog everything but he didn't have the time. He had to get what he needed and get out before Dumbledore came looking for him. Griphook handed him a bottomless bag. Harry quickly stuffed as many galleons, sickles, and knuts into it as he thought he'd need in the immediate time frame.

He was just about to leave when something caught his eye. It was a beautiful dagger. It had several small emeralds in the handle and came with a sheath. As Harry withdrew the dagger from the sheath, he realized it was goblin made. 

He decided to take it. You never knew when you might need a goblin made weapon. Especially if you were going to be hunting horcruxes. He then climbed back into the cart and rode back out of Gringotts. 

 

Before he left he asked Griphook, “So how do I get Potter mansion?” Griphook told him and he was on his way after he exchanged some galleons for pounds.

As Harry walked out of Gringotts, he decided to get his school stuff and a new wardrobe. He decided to first go get his wand. He walked into Ollivanders. He was standing there but a moment when Ollivander stepped out from behind a shelf and said “Good afternoon. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter.”

“Hello Mr. Ollivander. I'm here to get my first wand.” Said Harry. 

“Ah yes. You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. 10 ¼ inches long, swishy made of willow. Nice wand for charm work. Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. 11 inches. Pliable. Little more power and excellent for Transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it – it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course.” Said Ollivander

Ollivander still looked rather creepy, but Harry wasn't as creeped out as he had been the first time he had met him. “As interesting as it is to hear about all the wands you had previously sold, I am rather short on time so...” Said Harry. 

“Of course Mr. Potter. Which is your wand hand?” Asked Ollivander. 

“My right.”said Harry.

As before the tape measure started measuring on its own as Ollivander rummaged through his shelves. Harry tried one after another until finally he heard, “I wonder, now – yes, why not – unusual combination – Holly in Phoenix feather, 11 inches, nice and supple.”

As before as Harry picked up his wand he felt a rush of warmth and his fingers and sparks blew out the end. “Curious... Curious...” Said Ollivander. Knowing what Ollivander was curious about, and not wanting to stand around any longer, Harry paid him and left.

The next place Harry went was Madam Malkins. While there he not only got his school robes, he also got a whole new wardrobe.

Next he went to the apothecary's. There he got all the potions ingredients he would need for school as well as extras. You never knew when you would need to brew potion. He then also got his cauldron, a set of brass scales, and a set of glass phials and crystal phials. By time he was finished there, his stomach was grumbling so he went to a small café and grabbed some lunch including some ice cream.

His last stop in Diagon alley was Flourish and Blots. When he went inside he not only grabbed all his schoolbooks but books on advanced charms, transfiguration, potions, Defense against the dark arts, and a book on animagi for good measure.

His last stop before heading to Potter Mansion, was muggle London. He left the alley and walked to the nearest clothing store. While there he grabbed some T-shirts and jeans as well as some underwear and socks. He quickly paid and left. He walked to the nearest alley, looked around, and then disaparated for Potter Mansion.


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry explores Potter Mansion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading!

With a small pop Harry arrived as close to his destination as he could. He had never actually been to Potter Mansion. He didn't have time during the war to go there. In fact he had never found out in his previous life where it was. 

Gringotts, and the location of the mansion, had been destroyed when Diagon Alley had been attacked. Luckily he had been all over Scotland during his travels in his previous life. Therefore, he was able to apparate to the outside of a village not far away from his ancestral home. Still he had a bit of a walk ahead of him.

He walked for several hours. Seeing as how he did not want to be spotted, he kept off the main roads. It took him longer to get there, but it was worth it. People would've thought it weird for and 11-year-old to be walking about by himself. They might have even reported him to the local authorities. He certainly couldn't have that. Through woods and over grassy knolls he walked till he finally crested the last hill. Spread out below him was Potter Mansion. It was a beautiful sight.

he mansion itself was gorgeous. Six stories tall, it was an imposing sight. It glittered as the dying sun shone down upon it. Most the top of it was covered in a glass dome. 'The better to look out and see the sky.' Harry supposed. 

Potter mansion was a silvery gray color. 'The paint must have some sort of glitter in it.' Harry thought. For the glass dome wasn't the only thing that sparkled. The whole outside of the mansion did.

Spread out around the mansion were gardens. There were all sorts of colors pinks and purples and blues and yellows of all shades. There were tall plants and short plants. There were all sorts of trees as well. There are ones with flowers on it and even fruit trees. 

From where Harry stood, he couldn't tell the exact sorts. There was what looked to be greenhouses as well. If the variety of flowers outside the mansion was any indication, then the insides of greenhouses must be filled with even more plants. Harry made a note in his head to bring Neville here sometime in the future. He was sure that his friend would enjoy it very much.

Beyond the greenhouses, Harry could just catch a glimpse of what looked to be a pond. It didn't look as big as the one at Hogwarts, but was still a decent size. Looking beyond the pond Harry could see what looked to be a Quidditch pitch. 

Harry's heart started racing with that thought. He would have a chance to fly again! Actually fly! He had not been able to fly for fun in years. Ever since the war began, he only had time to fly if it was to get from one place to another. Now he had what looked to be a full-size professional Quidditch pitch for his use! He couldn't wait to try it out. He wondered if all the equipment was still there and in decent condition. Oh well. If it wasn't he could just go buy more.

Dragging his eyes away from the Quidditch pitch, Harry descended the hill. Walking for a few minutes, he came to the road that had he traveled the main way he would've followed. After a few more minutes he came to the gates of Potter Mansion. 

At the top of the gate was the Potter crest. Surprisingly it had not lost all its color after all the years of no one living there. At either side of the gate, were statues of what looked to be griffins. The wings were spread as if they were about to take flight in order to defend their home.

Harry laid his hand on the gate, and they sprang open at his touch. He quickly walked through the gate. The pathway to the house was the color of bricks. 

Along the walkway were apple trees. They were just beginning to bare apples. Harry walked for several more minutes, all the while taking in his surroundings with an air of wonder. He soon came to the front door of the mansion. Before he could open the door however, it was opened for him. Standing in front of him was what he knew to be a house elf.

“Young master has returned!” Said the house elf. “Wees has been waiting for you for so long.”

“You have?” Asked Harry. 

“Yes wees has.” Said the house elf. 

Harry didn't know that there were house elves there. He figured that if his parents had had house elves they would've taken them to Godrics Hollow with them. Apparently not.

Harry was taken out of his thoughts by the house elf tugging gently on his shirt. “Master Harry Sir?” 

“hm” said Harry. 

“Is yous okay?” Asked the house elf. 

“I'm fine.” said Harry. “Are you the only house elf here?” Asked Harry.

“Oh nos sir. There are five of us here. Would you like me to call them.” asked the house elf.

“Yes. I would like for you all to introduce yourselves.” Said Harry.

“Yes master. Theys be coming right away.”

Just then 4 pops were heard, and then instead of one house elf before Harry, there were five.

“I's Domina.”said the house elf that had opened the door for Harry. “I's in charge of all the house elves here.”  
“I's Ursa.” Said what looked to be a female house elf.  
“I's Vipera.” Said what looked to be the third female house elf.  
“I's is Altum.” Said a male house elf. And finally the last house elf, and only other male house elf there introduced himself as, “Astrum.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you all.” Said Harry. With that all the house elves burst out crying. 

“Hes is pleased to meet us.” They cried.   
“Shush. Calm down.” Harry said. With that they all stop crying. Harry knew he would have to put some rules to make sure that things like what happened with Dobby, never happened to them.

“First off, no physical punishments. I don't want you all hurting yourselves. If you think you need punished come to me and I will decide your punishment.” Said Harry

“Master's too kind!” They cried.

“Secondly, I would like to cook every once in a while.” Said Harry and before they could finish protesting he said, “Now it is not to punish you. I just like to cook.” With that they stop their protesting. “Now go back to what you were doing before I arrived. However, can someone please show me around the mansion?” And with “Yes Master!”all of the house elves except for Domina went back to what they were doing.

Domina lead Harry into the house. “Entrance Hall”said Domina. The floor was of white marble. And above Harry's head was a beautiful crystal chandelier that sparkled. Upon it was several hundred lit candles. How the wax did not drip down upon his head, he did not know. ' Must be the same spell as with the ones at Hogwarts.' Thought Harry.

In front of Harry was a door. As they walked through it, Domina led him into the formal dining Hall. The walls were a brick red and the floors were of the same white marble as the entrance hall. Down the center of the room, was a long Oak table. 

Seated around the table, were high-back chairs. They had red velvet cushions on them. On the backs of them were the Potter crest. Around the room, were display cases. They help things such as trophies and gold and silver statues. Harry saw more than one Griffin that looked like miniatures of the ones by the front gate.

At the end of the room was a set of French doors. Opening them, Harry was led into what Domina said was the reception area. Around the room, were all sorts of comfortable chairs and couches. They were of a dark blue color with the Potter crest on them. 

The floor was covered in a lighter blue carpet. The walls were white, and had pictures of landscapes on them. at the other end of the room, Harry could just make out the entrance hall. Domina then led Harry up a flight of spiral stairs. The stairs had a rug of red velvet down them.

As they got to the top of the first flight of stairs. Harry was led into the ballroom. The floors looked to be cherry wood and were squeaky clean so they shone. Above Harry was another chandelier much like the one in the entrance hall. 

At the far end of the room was a stage. It was obviously for the bands that would play during the balls. Along both sides of the room, there were more French doors. Opening them Harry walked out onto a large balcony, that overlooked the grounds.

Going up another flight of stairs, Harry came to the second floor. He walked in to what was obviously the living room. There were couches and chairs scattered throughout the room. There were also bookshelves along the walls, and would look to be a reading desk. 

The carpet was a dark red. Through the door to Harry's left was the family dining room. It looked like a miniature version of the formal dining room downstairs.

“Nows if you sit down master wees shall get you some supper.” said Domina. Harry did and was soon eating a roast beef sandwich and some pumpkin juice. “Throughs that doors is the kitchen.” said Domina whilst pointing.

As soon as Harry was done eating she showed it to him. Surprisingly, it was a rather modern kitchen. It was a mixture of magic and muggle. There was all the usual muggle appliances, but they obviously ran on magic rather than electricity.

Up another flight of stairs, they came to the floor with the bedrooms on it. There were six bedrooms and the master bedroom. Harry walked in to the master bedroom and looked around. It was a fairly decent size. 

With windows looking out on the front as well as the side yards. There were bookcases on several walls and a desk in the corner. His bed was king-size and a fourposter. The drapes were of a dark blue. The carpet was a blue gray and the walls were slightly darker shade of blue gray. 

Walking into the attached bathroom, he looked upon a double sink, walk-in shower, and Jacuzzi tub. It was tiled in the same blue gray as the bedroom.

“Does your likes it?” asked Domina. 

“I do.” said Harry.

The next floor was the library. It looked to go on forever. Everywhere Harry looked there was floor to ceiling shelves. As Harry quickly looked around, he's saw books on everything from charms to Occlumency. ' excellent.' thought Harry. ' I bet there are lots of books I've never read here. I can't wait to get started.'

Up the last flight of stairs, Harry came to the room that was covered with the glass dome. It was clearly an observatory. There were several telescopes pointed towards the sky. The walls were covered in charts and maps of the stars. 

There were several small wooden tables scattered throughout the room. Harry took a moment to look through the glass dome up at the stars. Then he noticed a door at the end of the room. He was told by Domina that that was the house elf quarters.

When Harry was done looking around, Domina lead him to the basement. Down the same flights of stairs he taken up they went. Then they went down one more flight of stairs than they had gone up, and they came to the potions laboratory. 

Around the room was what were clearly potions cabinets. There were several long tables down the room. Along one wall were all sorts and sizes of cauldrons. 

Harry was no expert potion master, but after the Battle of Hogwarts he had gotten pretty decent. He had had to. You never knew when you needed a potion. Harry knew he would be able to put the potions laboratory to good use. With that thought he yawned. He dismissed Domina for the night, and went to bed.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~  
The next morning dawned bright and clear. He slowly got up from bed and made his way to his shower. He got dressed and went down to breakfast.

As he ate bacon and eggs he thought of what he needed to do. First thing he needed to do, was make a list. As soon as he was done with breakfast, that was what he did. He went to the library, with quill and ink, to make a list. After an hour of thinking this is what he came up with.

1\. Send Domina to buy Hedwig so that I can reply to the letter from Hogwarts.  
2\. Read and learn as much as I can from Potter library  
3\. make sure Occlumency shields are up to snuff  
4\. when interrogated by Dumbledore, tell him you ran away because the Dursley's were cruel to you and that you won't tell him where you ran away to.  
5\. Destroy diadem ASAP  
6\. try to get on good terms with Snape  
7\. don't let Malfoy get on your nerves  
8\. try to act as much as a normal 11-year-old as possible  
9\. read a lot to explain abilities  
10\. talk to the basilisk in the chamber of secrets and kill it if needed  
11\. defeat Quirrel without alerting Dumbledore  
12\. start up DA if possible  
13\. destroy the ring summer after first year  
14\. destroy the diary when it's given to Ginny  
15\. free Dobby if possible  
16\. in third-year, take ancient runes, arithmancy, and care of magical creatures instead of the divination  
17\. figure out how to expose wormtail  
18\. devise trap for wormtail  
19\. prevent Remus from being outed if possible  
20\. prove Sirius's innocence  
21\. destroy cup after Sirius is proven innocent since he would have access to Bellatrix's vault  
22\. destroy locket at Grimmauld before fourth-year  
23\. if Winky is given clothes by Crouch then bond to her  
24\. get gillyweed for tournament  
25\. kill Voldemort in graveyard

That sounded like a good beginning to his plans. He wanted to keep things as close to his original time line as he could. If things got two different then all his future knowledge would be useless. 

It made him sad that he couldn't free Sirius before he escaped himself. It also made him kind of sad that people like Bartemis Crouch Sr. and Bertha Jorkins would probably still die to keep the time line mostly the same. 

However if his plans went as Harry wanted then the wizarding would be saved. Harry hated that people were still going to die, but he just couldn't see any way around it. He just had to hope that the lives of many being saved were worth the deaths of a few. He had to defeat Voldemort. He just had to.


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Train ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading!

The month between when Harry's letter arrived and September 1 went rather fast for Harry. It was not long before he fell into a routine. Every morning he would wake up at the crack of dawn and go down to a delicious breakfast.

When he was finished eating, he would then make his way to the library. While there he would read as much as he could. There was even more sorts of books than Harry had thought in the Potter library. 

He read books on potions and spells that he'd never heard of before. There were just books on potions that had to do with healing, there were ones that he could used in combat as well. And the spells he found he could use if not to take down Voldemort, then to at least take out a few of his death eaters. He spent the entire morning reading his books and memorizing as much as he could.

He would then go in to eat his lunch. After lunch he would do one of two things. Some days he would go down to the potions laboratory. While there, he would brew lots of potions. The potions he would brew most often were nutrient potions and calming droughts. He never knew when he might need something like that. Especially the nutrient potion. He was taking one every day to help with his malnutrition. 

When he was not working on these potions, he was practicing some of the new ones he'd found. He had more than one cauldron explode in his face. Luckily he wasn't badly injured though he did lose his eyebrows a few times.

When he wasn't in the potions laboratory, he was outside practicing new spells. He would conjure dummies and then fire spells at them as well as curses. He practiced dodging as they fired spells back at him. He was never so glad that the ministry could not track his use of magic. By the end, he was sweating and would go take a shower before supper.

After supper he would spend a few hours in the observatory. He would looks through the telescopes at the stars. Some nights he would fall asleep hunched over his telescope. This was his time to relax before another exhausting day of work.

This routine went mostly uninterrupted. The most notable exception to this was the day two days after his arrival. He was sitting working in the library when a burst of fire appeared. When it cleared Fawkes was standing on his table.

“Hello Fawkes.” Said Harry. “A letter from Dumbledore I suppose.”

Fawkes nodded his head. “Let's have it then.” Said Harry as he took the letter that Fawkes had between his talons. It read:  
Dear Harry,  
First let me introduce myself. My name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. I am the current headmaster of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. I am writing to inquire about your current location. I was made aware of your disappearance from your current residence by your guardians, that is to say your aunt and uncle. They are quite worried about you. If you reply with your current location, I would be happy to come and return you to them safely. Do reply soon.  
Your headmaster,  
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

After a few minutes of deliberation, Harry wrote the following letter:  
Dear headmaster,   
Thank you for your concern as to my whereabouts. However, I assure you I am quite fine where I'm at.  
Sincerely,  
Harry J Potter

“Please take this to the headmaster Fawkes, and if you would be so kind not to tell him where I am at I would most appreciate it. For you see he does not understand the whole situation, and I'd rather not have him find me. Will you do that for me?” Asked Harry.  
Fawkes nodded his head and flamed away.

After that day, Harry had gotten several more letters from the headmaster. These he ignored and sent them back unopened. He also made sure that the wards were updated. Though he decided to not block Fawkes from entering his home. 

He wanted to keep updated with what Dumbledore was doing and Fawkes gave him a chance to. Also, he kind of liked Fawkes. They got along well together, and by asking him questions he would sometimes get answers, for Fawkes would either nod up and down or shake his head in reply. This continued until September 1 finally arrived.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry made sure he was ready the night before. Earlier that week he had owl ordered his trunk. It was a seven compartment trunk just like Alastair Moody's had been. Most of the compartments he filled with books from Potter library. 

He also filled a compartment with potions ingredients that were not standard for students as well as several cauldrons of different metals. The main compartment of his trunk he filled with all the usual Hogwarts things, his Hogwarts level books, quills and ink, and school uniforms.

Harry awoke very early the morning of September 1. He quickly got dressed in his Hogwarts uniform. He then levitated his trunk and Hedwig's empty cage, he had let her fly to Hogwarts into the family dining room. Then Ursa proceeded to fill his plate with a mountain of food, “Don'ts wants master starving nows does wes.”

Harry ate quickly, and then packed away the food that Ursa gave him to eat on the train for lunch. Harry then said goodbye to his house elves. They said a teary farewell to him. He then apparated to the train station after making sure his scar was covered by his hair and disillusioning himself.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry was never more glad that he learned how to use a strong disillusionment charm. There were wizards standing at either end of the platform scanning the small crowd that was forming. Clearly they were looking for someone, and it was most likely him. 

He should've been expecting this. Dumbledore wasn't going to give up that easily. He quickly and stealthily crept onto the train. It was not long before he found an empty compartment where he settled down to wait.

He put a light notice me not charm on the door to the compartment. He didn't want anybody that he didn't want in his compartment to come into its before the train had even started moving. He took out the book he was currently reading, and decided to read while he waited.

Harry was not sitting there along, before very familiar girl with the bushy brown hair looked into the compartment. Harry waved off his notice me not charm, and beckoned her inside.

“Hello my name is Hermione Granger. I'm a first year. Are you first-year too? Is it okay if we stay here?” Said Hermione rather quickly.

“Sure.” said Harry “My name is Harry.”

As Hermione walked into the compartment Harry noticed the second figure standing behind her. This one was a boy with short brown hair. He was also familiar.

“My name is Neville.” Said the boy hesitantly.

“Harry.” Said Harry

“So are you first year too?” asked Hermione

“Yah.” replied Harry.

“I've read all our books. They are so fascinating. There is so much to learn. I am afraid I won't be much good. My parents are muggles you see. I didn't even know that all the strange things that I had been doing had been magic until one day after my eleventh birthday Professor McGonagall showed up on my doorstep and told me about it. 

I've decided to read as much as I can to become the best that I can because I mean the kids with wizard parents probably know so much all ready that I'm afraid I’ll be rubbish.” said Hermione practically all in one breath.

“Slow down Hermione.” said Harry practically. “I am sure you will be fine. Due to the laws and everything kids don't get to practice magic until they are Hogwarts age. Therefore, we all start off on even footing in the beginning.”

“Really? How would you know? Are your parents magical?” asked Hermione.

“My parents were magical but I was raised my my muggle aunt and uncle.”said Harry. “but I am sure that what I said is true. We are all witches and Wizards aren't we? Why should our blood status determine our education. We are all starting out as first-years after all. If pure bloods knew more magic before age eleven then surely they would start off as second or third-years don't you think.”

“Makes sense I suppose. What do you think Neville?” asked Hermione.

“Well I suppose. I'm a pure blood, but everyone thought I was a squib for ages. Wasn't till my Uncle Algie came over one day and accidentally dropped me out the window and I bounced that my gran knew I was magical. Even after that she would never let me do magic. My uncle was so happy though that he gave me my toad Trevor. Wait. Where is Trevor? Have you seen my toad?” Neville started to panic.

They spent about ten minutes searching their compartment for the missing toad, but couldn't find him. Just as they were about to go door to door asking if anyone had seen the toad,

Harry mentally smacked his head. How could he have been so stupid. The accio charm. He couldn't do it though. That would give away too much too soon. So he suggested to the other two that they find an older year and ask that they do it for them. That is what they did.

They knocked on the door to the next compartment and Oliver Wood opened the door. After quickly explaining the situation to him, they asked if he could summon Trevor for them. He agreed and summoned him. He quickly came zooming towards them from the girls toilet of all places. After thanking Oliver, they then went back to their compartment.

Not long after they got settled in again, the compartment door opened. There was the trolley lady asking if they wanted anything. Harry decided to get a little of everything to share. Before they started on the sweets however, Harry brought out the lunch that Ursa had packed for him. As usual, the house elves had given him way too much food, so he shared this as well.

They spent about half an hour eating their lunch. Neville and Hermione both complemented him on the food. Harry told them it was made by one of his house elves. This then led to a discussion on house elves of which Hermione of course had never heard of before. Harry told them all about how Hogwarts had house elves. 

At first Hermione was shocked, but then Harry explained to her that they liked working and that they didn't see it as slavery. They saw it as doing what they enjoyed. It took a while, but he finally convinced Hermione that house elves didn't want or need to be free. They just needed more rights.

.It was of course at this point that Neville pointed out how he had said that he had been raised by muggles. Harry explained that he had, but he was now living elsewhere and refused to say anymore for fear of giving away too much.

They then devolved into talking about schoolwork. Hermione and Harry especially discussed all of their school books as well as Hogwarts A History. They found that they were very similar in that they both read a lot of books. It was then that Harry brought up the subject of occlumency and legilimancy. 

He wanted both Hermione and Neville's minds to be well protected. He wasn't going to tell them about his time travel or having died of course, but he didn't want the headmaster or Snape to be able to get into their heads and see what they've been talking about. Hermione and Neville both agreed to be taught Occlumency by Harry.

It was not long after this that the door opened once again. This time it was a familiar, at least to Harry, light blonde head walked through the door, flanked on either side by his two guerrillas.

“Have you seen Harry Potter? I hear he's supposed to be on the train.” Said the boy.

“Not that I know.” Said Hermione.

“Where is he then? I searched every compartment and still haven't found him.”

“Maybe he doesn't want to be found.” Said Harry

“Why wouldn't he want to be found?” asked the boy who was clearly Malfoy.

“I know that if I was that famous I would not want to have everybody stare at me.” Said Harry

“I just want to ask him if he wants to be my friend.”

“Why would he want to be friends with you?” Asked Hermione.

“I'm a Malfoy that's why!” exclaimed Malfoy.

“Why should that make any difference.” Asked Hermione

“Do you know who we are? Clearly not. You must be a mud blood.” Said Malfoy with a sneer.

“Don't call her that!” Exclaimed Neville.

“Does blood status matter so much?” Said Harry.

“Of course it does!” Said Malfoy.

“I'll bet that despite Hermione here being muggleborn that she is able to beat you in all our classes.” Said Harry.

“Harry!” Exclaimed Hermione.

“Oh yeah?!” Said Malfoy. “You are on! What are we wagering?”

“How about if I'm right you reconsider your beliefs?” Said Harry

“and when you're wrong?” Asked Malfoy.

“I won't interfere in you calling Hermione a mud blood ever again.” Said Harry

“Fine.” Said Malfoy. They shook on it. Then Malfoy left.

As soon Malfoy left Hermione starting berating Harry for betting. That lasted pretty much the rest of the ride to Hogwarts until finally Harry said, “Look Hermione. Normally I would not bet but I have faith in you. I have faith that you will show those pure bloods that muggleborns can be smart too.

As long as you remember that you don't know everything and let other students have a chance to answer questions as well. You'll show them. I know you will. Now we are almost there. You two had better get changed.” Hermione was a little dumbfounded and she was quiet for the rest of the trip.


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's sorting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading!

It was not long before they heard: “We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.”

Just as Harry remembered, the train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Behind him followed Neville and Hermione. Before they could get too cold, they heard Hagrid yelling, “Firs' years! Firs' years over here! C'mon follow me – any more firs years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me !”

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them. Harry wondered for a minute why, until he remembered that there were thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Especially not Harry. He was too lost in memories of the first time he had walked this path.

Harry was brought out of his reverie by Hagrid is saying, “Yeh'll get yer firs site of Hogwarts in a sec, jus round this bend here.”and just behind Harry came a loud, “Oooooh!”

The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black Lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was vast castle with many turrets and towers. It was Hogwarts, and more beautiful than Harry remembered it.

The last time Harry had seen Hogwarts it had been in shambles. There hadn't been much but rubble left. By the time Harry had been sent back in time there wasn't even much rubble left. The elements had worn it down through the years between when it had been blown up and when Harry had been sent back in time. Not that Harry had seen it. 

There was too many sad memories there of people lost. The last time he had seen Hogwarts looking this beautiful, was when he had said farewell at the end of his sixth year. It had been almost 9 years ago for him. Seeing Hogwarts this whole and untouched by war, almost brought tears to Harry's eyes.

He was again brought out of his reverie by Hagrid as he said “No more'n four to a boat!”  
Harry, Neville, and Hermione shared a boat. Harry again looked around for Ron. He finally spotted him. He was getting into a boat with Seamus and Dean. It was so good to see him again or at least a miniature version of him. 'Oh well.' Thought Harry.' I'll try to talk to Ron later.'

“Everyone in?” Shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. “Right then – FORWARD!” And the little boats moved off at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. 

“Heads down!” Yelled Hagrid as the first boat reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking the right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clamored out onto rocks and pebbles. They clambered up the passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last on to smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up the flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door swung open at once, a very familiar tall, black – haired witch in Emerald – green robes stood there. Just as Harry remembered she was wearing a stern face. Harry remembered Professor McGonagall very well. 

She had been his head of house after all. She may have been stern, but she was also a very good teacher who knew what she was doing. He was very sad when he heard that she had died when Hogwarts had been blown up.

“The firs' years, Professor McGonagall,” said Hagrid. “Thank you, Hagrid. I'll take them from here.” She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall looked exactly as it was in Harry's memories from his early years in Hogwarts. Large enough to fit the whole Dursley house in and lit with flaming torches. It also had the grand marble staircase that led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from the doorway to the great Hall, where the rest of the school was. However as before, Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” said Professor McGonagall. “The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the great Hall, you'll be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room.

“The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you're in Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

“The sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you're waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you, please wait quietly.” She then proceeded to leave.

As they stood waiting, Malfoy was giving them weird looks which Harry just ignored for now. He heard Hermione muttering spells under her breath. Neville was looking even more nervous by the second. He tried to calm them down by telling them about the sorting hat. Hermione had a very relieved look upon her face when she heard she wouldn't need any spells.

“I am so glad we don't need any spells. Why doesn't it mention the sorting hat in Hogwarts a history though?” Said Hermione

Before Harry could explain to her that books don't contain everything, Ron walked up to them. “Why would you think that a dumb history book would tell us how we would be sorted?” He asked her.  
“I just thought how Hogwarts a history has so many other facts in it that surely it should tell as how we would be sorted.”

“Books don't tell you anything. If you would get your head out of your books maybe you would learn how we would be sorted. My brothers said we would be fighting a troll. They should know. They are third years after all. I'm going to beat it and get into Gryffindor and you don't see me with my head in any book do you?”

“Back off Ron!” exclaimed Harry loudly. He still wanted to be friends with Ron, but he couldn't believe how he was treating Hermione. She was almost in tears.

“Who are you tell me what to do?” Asked Ron. Before they could argue further they heard a loud gasp behind them. They backed off from each other and turned around.

About 20 ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They were arguing. The Fat Friar was saying: “Forgive and forget, I say. We ought to give him a second chance –“  
“My dear friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?”

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Before anyone could answer, “New students!” Said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. “About to be sorted, I suppose? Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!” Said the friar. “My old house, you know.”

Before anything else could be said Professor McGonagall returned and said, “Move along now, the sorting ceremony is about to start.” The ghosts then floated through the opposite wall. “Now, form a line,” Professor McGonagall told the first years, “and follow me.” They did exactly that, and walked through the doors into the great Hall with Harry making sure his occlumency shields were in place.

Harry wasn't near as nervous as he remembered being the first time, probably because he knew what to expect. The hall was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. Harry recognized many of them. The tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting.

Harry recognized each and every teacher sitting up there. Every single teacher sitting there had died before the new millennium had arrived. He could feel Dumbledore's eyes on him. He refused to look at him directly however, because he didn't want him to learn about his shields quite yet.

They were brought to a halt in the line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. Beside him he heard Hermione, who must be feeling better, whisper, “It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, a History.” She said referring to the enchanted ceiling.

Professor McGonagall then entered with a four-legged stool and the sorting hat. She sat it down upon the stool and it began to sing:  
“Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
but don't judge by what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
a smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
your top hats we can tall,  
for I'm the Hogwarts sorting hat  
and I can cap them all.  
There's nothing in your head  
the sorting hat can't see,  
so try me on and I will tell you  
where you ought to be.  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
where dwell the brave at heart,  
their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
set Gryffindor apart;  
you might belong in Hufflepuff,  
where they are just and loyal,  
those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
and unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Rave claw,  
if you've already mind,  
where those of wit and learning,  
will always find their kind;  
or perhaps in Slytherin  
you'll make your real friends,  
those cunning folk use any means  
to achieve their ends.  
So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands ( though I have none)  
for I'm a thinking cap!”  
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment and said “When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted, Abbot, Hannah!” and with that a girl that Harry recognized as Hannah Abbott stumbled out of line and sat down. After a few moments, “Hufflepuff!” was heard.

This sorting went exactly as Harry remembered it that is until the hat got to Hermione, “Ravenclaw!” was the shout. Harry couldn't say that he was totally surprised. He just hoped that this didn't change things too much. After that everyone went where they had gone the first time. At least, Neville didn't run off with the hat. Harry also thought it took the hat a few moments more to sort Malfoy into Slytherin. As it got down to the last few students, he finally heard, “Potter, Harry.”

Just as it did the first time, the hall broke out in whispers. “Potter, did she say?” “The Harry Potter?” People again stood up and tried to get a good look at him except for Neville, Hermione, Ron, and Malfoy who all looked at him in shock. Then the hat slid over his eyes.

“Hmm. Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see not the bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes – and how interesting. A time traveler.” Said the hat.

“Please don't tell Dumbledore.” Said Harry. “Don't worry Mr. Potter. I am bound not to tell the headmaster what see in the students' heads. Not to mention I can't wait to see the look on his face when he can't get through your barriers.” Harry sighed in relief.

“Now where to put you. Over your past lifetime, you seem to have developed traits of all four houses. You are so courageous and brave but you don't often go running headfirst into battle. You use logic and cunning as good as any Slytherin. You also are quite knowledgeable and read like a Ravenclaw. However, yes I see the main thing that drives you these days is loyalty. Your loyalty to your friends and your cause. You are determined to defeat Voldemort. Not to mention you have an extreme amount of patience. It is clear to me that despite having been sorted into Gryffindor before you now belong in HUFFLEPUFF!” and that last word was shouted out into the hall where a stunned silence lasted for all of a you moments before the Hufflepuffs started jumping up and down and cheering. 

Profressor Sprout was on her feet and clapping as well. Harry looked to Hermione and then to Neville and shrugged. He then proceeded to go sit down at the Hufflepuff table where many people came to shake his hand and clapped him on the back to congratulate him for getting into Hufflepuff. The rest of the sorting went by uneventfully.

Finally Professor Dumbledore got to his feet. He was beaming at the students, and kept glancing at Harry. He also had his arms opened wide.  
“Welcome!” He said. “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! thank you!” Everybody including Harry clapped. Harry then proceeded to turn to talk to his new housemates.


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> rest of dinner September 1, confronting Dumbledore, and breakfast of September 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading!

Harry spent the whole meal chatting away with his new housemates. He had never gotten to really know them in the previous timeline. All he really knew about Susan was that her aunt Amelia was the head of DMLE. She had been a loyal DA member and fierce fighter especially after her aunt died. Sitting next to her was Hannah Abbott with her hair in her customary pigtails. Hannah had also been in the DA. Across from them was Ernie MacMillian. He was still as pompous and arrogant as Harry remembered him. He had also been the DA and wasn't a bad guy when you got to know him. Sitting next to Ernie was Justin Finch-Fletchley, the muggleborn who had been petrified in Harry's second year. He had also been in the DA.

He listened as they talked about themselves. He learned that Hannah and Ernie both loved to collect chocolate frog cards. Hannah was a half blood while Susan and Ernie were both purebloods. Justin told them how he was down to go to Eton when he learned he was a wizard, and decided to go to Hogwarts instead. 

Even the elder years chimed in from time to time. There sitting not far from Harry was in fact Cedric Diggory. Harry stared for a moment as he sees his death in his head. However he quickly shook himself out of it as they asked him about himself. He decided for the obvious reasons to not tell them very much. He said that he had grown up with his aunt and uncle and cousin who were muggles. He told them that they didn't get along. When they asked him about what actually happened that night, he told them that he didn't remember, even though he knew exactly what had happened.

Supper went by rather quickly. The only interruption was when Professor Sprout came up to Harry saying that Professor Dumbledore would like to see him after the feast and to wait in the great Hall after the others left. Harry spent what remained of supper thinking up a plan to keep Dumbledore from getting even more suspicious and yet keep himself from promising anything. He wanted to keep Dumbledore in the dark about him not being under his control for as long as possible.

Before he knew it Dumbledore was standing up to make his end of feast speech. “Ahem – just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the ground forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well. I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch tryouts will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you all that this year, the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.” With that statement murmurs and whispers broke out throughout the hall.

“And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!” Cried Dumbledore. Dumbledore flicked his wand and said, “Everyone pick their favorite tune, and off we go!” The school bellowed the school song. Harry pretended to sing along, but didn't really. He was too busy thinking about his conversation with Dumbledore that they were about to have. As Harry remembered for the first time, the Weasley twins finished last. “Awe, music, a magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!” Dumbledore said dismissing everybody but Harry.

Harry waited as the hall slowly became void of the students and teachers alike. The whole time he waited, Dumbledore was looking at him. As the last of the students and teachers left, he said, “Follow me.” Harry then followed Dumbledore all the way up to the familiar statue standing outside a familiar office.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as they got in, Dumbledore motioned for Harry to sit in the seat across from him. As Harry complied he noticed that the usual twinkle in the headmasters eyes was gone. Harry looked around the office. It was just as he remembered it from before Dumbledore's death. The walls behind the headmaster's chair were plastered with portraits of past headmasters and headmistresses. All of them looked to be asleep, but Harry knew they were pretending. They would be listening to every word said in the office. Beside Dumbledore's desk was Fawke's perch which currently Fawkes was perched on. As Harry met Fawke's gaze they both nodded to each other.

“You wanted to see me headmaster.” Said Harry turning to look right into Dumbledore's eyes. Harry felt the tickle of legilimancy against his shields. He let it pass leading Dumbledore see only what he wanted him to see.

Professor Dumbledore then proceeded question Harry.

“Why did you leave your relatives Harry? They were quite worried about you.” Asked Dumbledore.

“My relatives don't like me very much professor. They were never very nice to me. I just wanted to get away from them I didn't mean to make anybody worry.” Said Harry playing the part of a naïve 11-year-old and letting Dumbledore see some of the things that the Dursley's had done to him.

“Where did you go?” Asked Dumbledore.

“I just kept running.” Said Harry letting images of the numerous times he had run through Little Whinging in his past life run through his mind making sure that the slightly older version of himself was obscured.

“Why didn't you respond to my letters?” Asked Dumbledore.

“Well...” Stated Harry hesitantly as if he was embarrassed. “I couldn't find a pen or paper to reply. I told your bird to tell you where to find me but I guess he didn't.” Said Harry with a sigh. As he told Dumbledore this, images of his talking to Fawkes with the background blurry flitted through his head.

“I see.” Said Dumbledore slowly. “It's all right my boy. No harm done. You are here safe and sound now and that is all that matters.” Harry gave him what he hoped was a hesitant smile.

“I'll be sure you get home to your relatives safe and sound this summer. Don't worry.” Said Dumbledore the twinkle returning to his eyes. “I will do what's best for me.” Said Harry smirking internally and so glad that his plan had worked.

Shortly after that, Dumbledore called Professor Sprout up to his office. She then escorted Harry down to the Hufflepuff dormitories. As Harry remembered it was not far from the kitchen. They soon came to a pile of barrels. Professor Sprout showed him exactly what barrels to tap in the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff. They were soon going through the tunnel entrance. 

This opened up into a very cozy common room. It was a large, earthy, round room with low ceilings. It felt almost sunny. The round windows had a view of dandelions and rippling grass. There were plants around the room. Professor Sprout told him that some of them even would even sing and dance. There were burnished copper touchings with plush, cozy yellow and black patterned sofas and chairs. Professor Sprout pointed to two large circular doors at the end of the room. She told him that one on the left was the one that led to the boys dormitory. 

Harry quickly went through and found the room that had a brass number one on the front. He went in and quickly found his bed, it was the only one that didn't have the curtains closed. He didn't even have time to change. He was so tired he realized. He fell on the bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow, his last thought being' I hope all my conversations with Dumbledore aren't as tiring as that one was.' For some reason he didn't think that would be the case.

~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Harry got up early as was his tendency. He decided to go for a quick run around the lake before breakfast, it was good to get and keep in shape after all. After that we got a quick shower. He then proceeded to drink down a nutrient potion. As he was leaving, his other two dorm mate's were just starting to wake up. After getting directions to the great Hall from Cedric, he made his way there to the Hufflepuff table.

He was not sitting there long before Hermione walked in. she also tended to wake up earlier than most. He waved her over. She looked at him a little weirdly. He repeated the gesture. She finally walked over.

“You do realize we are in different houses right?” Asked Hermione as she slowly sat down.

“Yes.” Stated Harry. “But in the rules it says that the only time we need to sit at our house tables is during the opening and leaving feasts. Any other day we can sit wherever we want with whomever we want.”

“You read the Hogwarts rulebook?” Asked Hermione. “I was going to get myself a copy but my parents said it was too long. It's only 1724 pages.”

“I read it. Yes.” said Harry. “It is important to know the rules of the school you're going to be attending after all.” Hermione nodded in agreement.

“Will you let me borrow it sometime?” Asked Hermione

“Sure.” said Harry.

As they finished speaking, Neville walked in. Harry repeated the gesture that he had when Hermione had previously walked in. Neville walked over even more reluctantly than Hermione had. Harry told him what he had Hermione. After he finished Neville looked a little more relaxed, but still nervous.

They then began to eat. They chatted for a time, but as they did Harry noticed that Hermione looked more and more anxious. Finally he said, “Whatever you have to say get it off your chest Hermione.”

With a rush of breath Hermione asked, “Why didn't you tell us you were Harry Potter?” It was clear to Harry that she had wanted to ask him that since she'd come down but had been too polite to do so. He knew that he was going to get asked why he had hidden his identity from them by them eventually, he just had rather it had not happened. He didn't know if they would understand and he didn't want to lose his friends.

“I'm sorry I hid who I was from you guys. I really didn't want to, but I wanted people to get to know me as me before they knew who I was. When I heard that I was famous, and that everyone knew my name I knew there would be some people who would want to be friends with me just because I was the boy- who- lived and not because I was Harry. I then I decided that I would not tell anyone my name till it was absolutely necessary. 

I knew that who I was will be revealed at the opening feast, but I didn't want anyone to know before that. That way I had a chance to get know people as Harry and not as the boy- who- lived. That way I would have a chance to make real friends and not just hangers on or people who just wanted to be friends with me because of what happened when I was just one years old. I do regret deceiving you guys. You have been nothing but nice to me. However, I will not apologize for doing something that I felt was for the best. Also I do not like the spotlight much. I did not want people gawking at me before necessary. Everyone else is right now.” 

Sure enough everybody else was. Ron who had just entered and looked at them with a bit of a glare and Malfoy was still giving them weird looks. “And besides, now I know that you two are my real friends instead of just people who befriended me because I am the boy- who- lived. I hope that this will make our friendship stronger. I knew you're mad but I hope you are able to overcome your anger and still be friends with me.” Said Harry with a sigh.

He knew Hermione would be mad he just hoped that she would be able to stop being mad at him for what he had done. He meant every word of what he had said. He had done it knowing that Hermione would be irritated at him.

After a few minutes of contemplation Hermione finally said “Alright I forgive you. I don't like being lied to but, I understand that you had a good reason to.”  
Harry then turned to Neville and said, “What about you Neville? Do you forgive me?”

“Yeah. I understand why you did what you did.” Said Neville hesitantly “I'm not going to lose my first friends just because of a little deception.” With those words Harry smiled. They then turned back to their breakfasts.

They were almost done with their breakfasts, when Professor Sprout came up to Harry. She asked why Neville and Hermione were sitting there when they were not Hufflepuffs. Harry told her what he had told them. She looked mildly surprised, she clearly had not read the rulebook, but allowed it. She then handed Harry his schedule.

When she returned to the head table it was clear to the trio that the other professors asked her if she had an answer as to why they were all sitting at the same table when two of them were not of that house. The looks of surprise on their faces was priceless. Snape sneered of course. When professors Flitwick and McGonagall came to give Hermione and Neville their schedules they said not a word. Harry found it was the same as his. He didn't remember all the houses having classes together at the same time, but figured it was a nice change that he would be able to sit with both Hermione and Neville in every class despite their being in different houses.

They quickly finished their breakfasts. They then asked Cedric if he could tell them where their classrooms were for the day. Cedric was kind enough to tell them where to go. They then left the great Hall to go to their first-class which just happened to be charms.


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's first week of classes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading!

Harry's first week of school went by similar to how he remembered it. Pretty much everything was the same. His classes were all in the same places with the exact same teachers as before. At points it was still very weird for Harry to see things whole and people who he had seen die alive again and moving around as if nothing had happened. Nothing had happened to them of course and nothing would if he had any say about it which he did. By the end of the week he had mostly gotten used to this feeling however.

Something else different was that he decided to befriend the Weasley twins. He never knew when he might need a distraction and the Weasley twins were very good for that. Not to mention that he would like the marauders map back some point, and they were very fun people to have around.

He also realized that he had to wait to get the diadem. Though he had his goblin made dagger, it had not been infused with basilisk venom. Therefore it would not be able to destroy the diadem. He would have to go and see about the basilisk this weekend. Other than these things most of the week was much the same as it had been in his memories.

His first class was charms. As had happened Harry's first time, when Professor Flitwick got to his name he again fell off his large stack of books, much the laughter of everybody but Harry who helped the professor back up onto his books. Professor Flitwick was most grateful. 

History of magic was also still the most boring class there was according to all of the students. Professor Binns went on and on about the most boring things in a boring way. He still did not seem to even notice that he had a class. Harry had thought ahead however. He had got dicta Quill. 

So as soon as he got to class he tapped it with his wand. It then started to take down everything Professor Binns was saying. When Hermione asked in a bare whisper where he had gotten it and why, he told her he had heard that Professor Binns was boring and spent every class lecturing. He therefore bought that dicta quill from the parchment shop in Diagon Alley when he got his school supplies. Hermione thought it was a brilliant idea that not only could a quill could take much neater and faster notes than she ever could on her own but that it took more complete notes. She then informed Harry that she had decided to get her own. 

Then she asked if until then she could borrow his notes. He replied in the affirmative and offered the same to Neville who shyly accepted. They then proceeded to play tic-tac-toe and hangman on spare bits of parchment for the rest of the class. Even Hermione did it reluctantly. Here he convinced her that she did not need to pay so much attention because the dicta quill would take down every word the professor said as he said it.

Astronomy was the same as always as well. They went up to the tallest tower and observed the night sky that Wednesday night. They noted stars and planets and constellations down on parchment. Then they went to bed tired, and were still exhausted the next morning.

Defense against the dark arts was actually worse for Harry this time around. This time he knew exactly why the classroom smelled as it did. He despised having to sit in the same classroom Quirrel and Voldemort were in. Not to mention the fact that Quirrel had never taught them anything. It was the same this time. He, Hermione, and Neville sat in the back of the room, as far away from Quirrel as possible. Hermione didn't protest after she smelled the garlic. She didn't want to be near the main source of that stink. The whole classroom stunk of it, but it was worse closer you were to Quirrel.

Professor McGonagall was the same as she always was. When they arrived she had a stern look on her face. She then said, “Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned.” Harry knew she meant it too. After she turned her desk into a pig and back again everyone was impressed until she told them they wouldn't be doing that for a while. Then they groaned and were given another stern look. She then gave them all a match and told them how to turn it into a needle.

Harry had thought long and hard about how much of his knowledge to show. He decided that he would be an above average student, but would not get everything the first time he tried. He didn't want to look too suspicious after all. Especially because he was a Hufflepuff. Hufflepuffs were not top of their class, though he knew he wouldn't be far behind the top spot.

Therefore, in his first Transfiguration class he did not transform his match into a needle immediately. He waited until after Hermione had gotten hers all Silver and pointy. He then proceeded to get his to that point as well. Professor McGonagall gave them both five points.

Herbology was the same as well. It was a breeze for Harry. Even though Harry knew everything that was covered and had dealt with much worse plants in his first life, heat decided to do something that would help Neville's confidence. He asked Neville if he would be willing to help him with his Herbology work. Neville was surprised to say the least, but he agreed. Harry made a note to convince Neville that it was his wand that was the problem not him as soon as possible.

The main difference in his classes was that instead of sitting beside Ron as he had his first week the first time, he sat between Neville and Hermione. Ron always sat not too far away. After that first confrontation he never confronted Hermione again. However, they could on occasion see him glancing towards them as if he was telling Seamus and Dean something about them. Also, Draco was forever giving them weird looks, but he too never confronted them again. It seemed as if he was following a wait and see policy which was weird for him, but a good thing.

He also spent more time in the library. He, Hermione, and Neville would go there to do their homework after classes were through. They got as much done as they could so they could spend their evenings doing whatever they wanted. For Harry and Hermione, they both read books. They would also discuss what they read. They would bring Neville in and ask his opinion on occasion as well which surprised the boy to no end. They were all very sad when curfew came and they had to separate.

Harry's dorm mates weren't too bad either. Ernie was just as pompous as Harry remembered him, but wasn't too bad once he got to know him better. Justin was very smart. Harry could see how he was accepted into Eton. It was still weird for Harry to go down to the Hufflepuff common room near the kitchens rather than up to Gryffindor Tower, and still found himself wandering that way on occasion. Luckily, he caught himself before anyone noticed and wondered how he knew where the entrance to the Gryffindor common room was and why he going there.

Finally Friday arrived. It was again similar to how Harry remembered it. Today the three of them were sitting at the Gryffindor table. As they were eating, Hedwig flew down and landed next Harry's bacon. He gave her a few pieces and absent mindedly scratched her head as as he read a familiar untidy scrawl:  
Dear Harry,  
My name is Hagrid. I am the keeper of the keys and groundskeeper here at Hogwarts. I was the one that led you first years across the lake. I knew your parents. I would be happy to tell you about them and to hear more about yourself. Would like you could come today and have a cup of tea with me around three? You can send your reply with this fine bird.(Is she yours? She offered to carry this letter for me when I asked for an owl who would like to send a letter to you.)  
Hagrid

Harry thought for a moment. He would like to see Hagrid again. Also Hagrid might get Norberta again. He knew that if he didn't help Hagrid then he would get in trouble in that case. He didn't want that. Maybe after the war was over he could even get Hagrid cleared of the charges for opening the chamber of secrets the first time it was opened. That cemented his decision. He replied:

Dear Mr. Hagrid,  
I would be happy to meet you. Three today sounds good. I will see you then.  
Sincerely,  
Harry Potter  
P.s. Yes this is my owl. Her name is Hedwig.

He then sent it off with Hedwig. When Neville and Hermione asked who sent him a note, he told them about Hagrid. He then asked if they would like to go with him. They agreed that they would go with him. Harry then checked the time. He realized there was about 20 minutes till potions class began. He decided to go to talk to Snape before class. He made his excuses to Neville and Hermione, telling them that wanted to ask Professor Snape something. They reluctantly ( especially Hermione) let him go. He then proceeded down to the dungeon.

He walked into the classroom. When he entered, Professor Snape was shuffling through some papers on his desk.

 

“Professor Snape sir” stated Harry as if he was hesitantly nervous.

“Potter.” Snarled Snape.  
Walking up to Snape's desk as Snape sneered at him, Harry asked, “Prof. I was wondering if I could ask you a question about my mother?”

“Why would you think I would know anything about your mother Potter?” Sneered Snape

“Well,” began Harry, looking at the floor “I never knew anything about her growing up. My aunt Petunia hates her and would never tell me anything whenever I asked. So I was so glad when I found a journal of hers after I ran away. She talks all about you in it. About how you grew up near each other. About how you were best friends even though she was muggleborn. About how you told her all about the wizarding world. So I I just thought that you would be able to tell me about her. I've never even seen a picture of her professor. I mean people have told me I've got her eyes, but that's all I know about how she looked like. Did she have blonde hair like my aunt Petunia? What were her likes and dislikes. I know I have her journal but I would really like to hear more about her from someone who knew her personally you know?” Said Harry as he looked up.

Snape was looking at him with what looked like a bit of shock. That lasted for all of the moment before he schooled his features once again. He then said at almost a shout, “Blonde hair! Blonde hair! Lily Evans never had blonde hair. She had the reddish hair I had ever seen. She would never have blonde hair. She was very proud of her looks.” 

“Really Professor?” Asked Harry

“Yes Potter.” Sneered Snape slightly.

“She sounds pretty.” Side Harry. “What were her favorite subjects? Did she like potions like you obviously do? I think potions sounds cool. You could do anything with potions and they sound so much more subtle and harder to detect and block then charm are or any other sort of spell.”

“Yes Potter she liked potions. She liked charms as well.” Snape said rather reluctantly.

“Cool professor. I am really looking forward to your class.” Said Harry just as the bell rang

“Now get your seat partner before I take points.” Said Snape.

“Yes Professor” Said Harry as he sat down near the front of class.

The rest class trickled in. Ron, Seamus, and Dean were the last ones in, and they sat down in the very back just before the bell rang. Snape went through role just as he had Harry's first time through. This time however he did not stop at Harry's name. He just sneered at it as he said it.

He then went into his speech: “You are here to learn the sub tile science and exact art of potion making. As there is little foolish wand waving here, many of you were hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with it shimmering fumes, the delicate power of the liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.”

Despite Harry knowing that it was probably still coming, he still was a little surprised as Snape said, “Potter! What what I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

After taking a moment to think about it, and remembering back to his original first potions class he answered, “The Draught of Living Death Sir.” 

Snape looked mildly surprised he then went on to ask, “Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?”

A moment later Harry answered, “In the stomach of a goat Sir.”

Snape then asked the third and final question, “What is the difference, Potter, between the monkshood and wolfsbane?”

“There is no difference sir. They are the same plant.” Answered Harry.

After a moment of stunned silence in which Snape was obviously reluctantly impressed, Snape said, “Well? Why aren't you all copying it down?” There was a rummaging of quills and parchment.

They were soon set to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. Snape swept around the room criticizing pretty much everyone. The pleasant surprise was that he stayed away from Harry though he kept giving him dark locks. Malfoy was also sending him dark looks which he ignored.

Luckily he was able to stop Neville from adding in the porcupine quill at the wrong time, so Neville's cauldron did not blow up. Neville's potion actually came out looking not too bad though far from perfect. Hermione's potion was of course near-perfect, and his potion didn't look too bad either. He would never be the greatest potion's maker in the world but he would never be a terrible one either.

 

The three of them rather proudly put a sample of their potions into phials and took them up to put them upon Snape's desk. He barely glanced at them. They then walked out the door and went to lunch. Harry was rather happy with what he had accomplished and hoped he could make more strides with Snape in the future.


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A visit to Hagrid and going to visit the basilisk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading!

After potions class, they made their way to lunch. There they sat at the Ravenclaw table. They ate relatively quickly and decided to go to the library. They spent the time until going to Hagrid's finishing up their homework for the week. Finally after what seemed like a lot longer than a few hours to Harry it was 10 minutes till three. They then gathered up their books and supplies and made their way to Hagrid's.

The walk was very familiar to Harry. They slowly made their way across the grounds for Hagrid still lived in his little hut not far from the edge of the forbidden Forest. As they came close, Harry slightly shivered with the memories of all the times he had been in that forest. None of them were good.

When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming Barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, “Back, Fang – back.” Then Hagrid's face appeared. “Hang on,” he said. “Back, Fang.” He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.

It was exactly as Harry remembered it from before it had been burned down with Hogwarts. It had one room. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood Hagrid's massive bed.

“Hi. I'm Harry.” Introduced Harry. “And this is Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom. Hope you don't mind that I brought them along with me Mr. Hagrid.”

“Not at all, Harry.” Said Hagrid. “Me name is Hagrid. Ya don't need ta put Mr. in front of it.”

“Okay nice to meet you Hagrid.” They said.

They talked a little while about this and that. Not really about anything in particular. Though he did tell Harry a few stories of his parents. He had known them, but not very well. At one point Neville and Hagrid struck up a conversation about the different plants you would find in the forbidden Forest. Plants weren't really Hagrid's strong suit but he did know a few things. They talked about how their first week when. Hagrid was happy to hear that Harry was doing well so far in his classes. It was then that Neville and Hermione noticed the paper laying on the table:  
Gringotts Break-In Latest  
Investigations continue into the break-in at   
gringotts on 31 July,what is believed to be the  
work of dark wizards or witches unknown.  
Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing  
have been taken. The vault that was searched had in   
fact been emptied the same day.  
“But we're not telling you what was in there, so  
keep your noses out of it if you know what's good  
for you,” said a Gringotts spokes goblin this afternoon.

Hermione, being the curious Ravenclaw that she was, asked Hagrid about the article. He said that he didn't know anything, but all three of them could tell that he did. He wouldn't look Hermione straight in the eye, and he kept fidgeting. They decided to come back and talk to him about it later. They were soon walking back to the castle with their pockets weighted down with the rock cakes that they had been too polite to refuse. Harry was thinking all the while that the year was getting off to a good start. He remembered that he would just let Hermione and Neville figure things out on their own.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night Harry snuck out of his dorm. He disillusioned himself. He decided it is time to confront basilisk in the chamber of secrets. He stealthily as he could crept through the hallways. Luckily, it was a shorter walk to the second floor girls bathroom from the hufflepuff common room than it was from the Gryffindor common room. There were several close calls. Filch was roaming the hallways as usual. He walked by just a few feet from where Harry stood silent and, Harry saw Snape as well, but luckily Snape had just turned a corner and so Harry did not have to worry about him. It was not long before he got to moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

He quietly entered making sure that the door did not squeak. He paused for a moment, and not hearing Myrtle he quickly walked over to the sink that he knew was the entrance to the chamber of secrets. – Open – hissed Harry. Harry quickly cast a silencing charm at the sink so that no one would hear it, hopefully. It's slowly ground its way open. Harry looked down into the open tunnel. It was just as dark and slimy as Harry remembered it. He would rather not get soaking wet with slime. He decided to try something. -Stairs – hissed Harry. To his amazement and delight, stairs formed where there was once just a sloping slide. He would not have to get slime all over himself, just on his shoes.

' I should've done that the first time.' Thought Harry.' I mean Salazar Slytherin would never have wanted to actually slide down on the slide to his chamber. He would've built in a way for him to get up without using a Phoenix.' Harry was doubly glad whenever he thought of that fact. He realized that he did not have Fawkes there to help him out of the chamber that time. He had not really thought so far as to how he would get out. He sighed in relief. He could not believe his stupidity sometimes. He would have to be sure that his future ventures were better thought through. And with that thought he conjured and silenced a rooster. Just in case he needed to kill the basilisk again. There would be no Fawkes there to heal him if he got himself impaled by a basilisk fang again.

He quickly and silently as he could walked down the stairs. He soon came to the floor that was covered in bones of small animals. He silenced his feet and tried to avoid stepping on the remains of the bones of the creatures that littered the floor. He then walked down the tunnel, alert, and still holding the silenced rooster. He walked past the area that had caved in in the original timeline and quickly came to the door to the actual chamber itself. – Open – hissed Harry. The door swung open.

Harry, still very alert and on guard, walked into the chamber. He looked around. It was just as wet and filthy as he remembered it. Wrinkling his nose in disgust, he slowly padded forward to the statue of Salazar Slytherin. With the rooster at the ready he hissed – speak to me Slytherin greatest of the Hogwarts four – he heard a slithering sound coming from the statue. He readied the rooster. Suddenly the sound stopped.-Speaker. – Came the hissing noise. – Why have you brought the smell of death with you? – This hissing sounded afraid.

Harry thought of what to say. Well, he had attended to ask the basilisk a list of questions. He might as well ask them. He said – I have only brought it as a precaution. I would rather not die. – – Speaker? Why would I kill you? – – You have killed before. – – But I never meant to! The silver tongued one was here. He threatened to kill me if I did not kill muggleborns. I really did not want to master! I tried to avoid it really I did. When he ordered me out, I only petrified. I kept my eyes closed and I only opened them when I found one who would not die if I looked at them. I looked at people who only saw me in mirrors, and ones who saw me through a ghost. And those who saw my reflection in things like puddles. I never meant to kill anyone –

Harry was confused now. He thought that the basilisk was a beast bred and trained to kill muggleborns.  
What do you mean you never meant to kill anyone? I thought that Salazar Slytherin made sure that you were bred and trained to kill. He then put you down here to kill muggleborns at the request of his heir like he had been unable to because he had been driven out– – No speaker. that was never master Salazar's intentions never! – – What! But history tells us that Salazar Slytherin was a muggle hating man who fought with Godric Gryffindor and the other two founders over the rights to have muggleborns come to the school. Salazar Slytherin did not want muggleborns in the school but the other three founders did. They got into a heated argument over this issue and Salazar Slytherin was driven out. Before he left here, he left you here in the chamber that was accessible only to his heir, Tom Riddle, so that he could come and release you in the future and so you could go out into the school and kill all those who he had deemed unworthy. Namely muggleborns and some all the blood traitors. Are you telling me that this is not true?! – – That is exactly what I'm saying speaker. Master Salazar was never like that. Is that how history portrays him as? He would be very sad to hear that – the basilisk sounded so sad.

Harry could hear her moving around. She was making noises that sounded wet and rather squelchi like he was stepping on a giant wet sponge. He realized she was crying. He actually felt rather ashamed of himself for making the basilisk cry. He never expected that he would feel that way. He had never even known a basilisk could actually cry. He didn't know what to do, so he just let her cry herself out.

After a short while the squelching noises stopped. – So then if Salazar Slytherin was not as history portrayed him as, what was he like?– – Oh Master Salazar was a great man. He had his faults I'm sure, but he was not at all like your history portrays him as. It is true that he did not much like muggles. He mostly hated them because they killed so many young witches and wizards. He hated that they would kill their children just because they were different, just because they were witches or wizards. He did not hate the muggleborns. He did not trust them though. If they were to take tales of Hogwarts back to their parents that could be devastating. There were many muggle uprisings against the school in the early days. It was mostly parents whose children had told them of the magic. They did not approve and wanted to kill all the students and the founders and other teachers. There were many times that the founders and the other teachers had to hide the students away and go out and confront angry parents.

It was due to this that he wanted the magical and muggle worlds to be separated. He wanted magical children born to muggle parents to be taken from their parents at a young age. Now this might sound cruel to you, but it would have saved many of the students. Many were killed before the founders even knew of them. If they were taken away then the parents would have less of a chance to kill them. Also if the worlds were separate then muggles would find less witches and wizards to kill in general. It would save a lot of people.

After a while Master Salazar decided to breed me, not to kill all the muggleborns and blood traitors but to protect the school. I was here as a last line of defense to keep the muggles from the students if the teachers and the founders were to fail at keeping them out. I was never meant to kill anyone except those trying to harm the school. – – So then why did you kill Myrtle? – Asked Harry. – It was an accident. I never meant to. She was in the bathroom the one day when I came out. I knew she was there. I heard the poor girl crying. I was just going to slither past and go on my way but then all of a sudden, she came out of the stall. She startled me. I did not mean for her to gaze into my eyes. It just happened. I was so ashamed of myself. I came down here and sulked for decades. Luckily the silver tongued one did not come back after that. I have been so lonely for so long. – She made what sounded like a sigh. 

After thinking this through Harry then asked her to continue with her tale about Salazar Slytherin. He was rather curious now as to what happened in the rest of the story. She continued – He built this chamber and put me in here telling me of my purpose and all that I have told you. It was just a few years later that rumors reached us of Master Salazar's son. He hated muggles much worse than Master Salazar did and was rampaging through muggle villages and killing many people. Master Salazar did not agree. He did not like the muggles, but did not believe that killing all of them was the right answer. 

He then came down to tell me goodbye. He was leaving to confront his son. I tried to convince him to stay, but I was unsuccessful. That day he had an argument with the other three founders, but not about muggles and muggleborns, they argued about whether or not Master Salazar should leave. The other founders did not want them to leave either. He would not listen to them either however and left. My master never came back. Both he and his son disappeared. No one knows what happened to him. I have been lonely for so long. I have yearned for a new master. Will you be my master? –

The question was so unexpected to Harry. He was just stunned. He had no idea that history's interpretation of Salazar's life and views were so wrong. He figured that if his son really was as much of a muggle hater as a basilisk said he was then history must have just mashed the two together and said that it was all Salazar Slytherin's doing. He then thought about the prospect of having the basilisk under his control. He did not want what happened in his original second year and 50 years ago to happen again. If this is the only way to prevent that and not kill what Harry knew now was a noble beast, then he would do it. He just hoped it would not be too painful. – Okay basilisk. What must I do? However before you tell me, I never did ask for your name. – – My name is Viride. – Said the basilisk as Harry closed his eyes because he heard her slithering out of the statue's mouth. She sounded excited and Harry hoped that this would not be a big mistake.


	9. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Harry's meeting with Viride, a horcrux down, and the first flying lesson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading.:) Edited 10 Jan 16

Viride slithered out of the statue. Harry could hear her as she moved along the ground. It reminded him of the first times he had confronted her in his second year. It was actually kind of scary. He once again hoped that he was not making a big mistake.

The sounds stopped. Viride was not far away. She spoke – I am sure you are wondering what in the immunity bite entails. It is quite simple really. It is exactly as it sounds. I bite you and you are immune from me and all other magical snakes. I am not sure about non-magical snakes though – Harry paled as she said that. He never should never have thought about being bitten by the basilisk before venturing down there. The world has a cruel sense of irony. Obviously. With his luck what else should he have been expecting though.

Harry asked – Won't that kill me though? – – No it won't. – Harry thought all that over and realized he actually trusted the basilisk. How weird was that? He would never of thought that would happen back in his original second year. Oh how things change in such a short amount of time. Viride went on to explain – I, like most magical snakes, can control how much venom I put in to my bite. When I want to kill I put massive amounts of venom into the bite wound. If I want someone to die slowly I would put not quite as much of an amount of venom into a bite as I would if I wanted them to die quickly. The more of it I put into the bite the quicker someone would die. 

However to bond to you, I need just put a microscopic amount into the bite. I won't lie to you and say it won't be painful, but it will not be very painful. At least it shouldn't. Master Salazar didn't complain. Just this tiny amounts won't kill you. It is just enough to bond us.– Harry pondered that.

He then asked – Are there any other side effects to this besides bonding us and having immunity to snakes? -- There are indeed.– – Will you tell me them? – – Sure. The other side effects are mainly that you will take on some characteristics of mine. Not any physical ones mind you. – She said as Harry shuddered at the thought of having scaly skin and trying to explain that to Dumbledore. – Well not so much along the lines of my physical characteristics that you can see, such as my skin, tail, or my eyes. I'm speaking more line lines of snake characteristics or the physical traits that you can't see. You should certainly become more stealthier. You should be able to sneak up on people more easily and not be able to be followed quite so easily as you are able to be now. Your sense of hearing, sense of smell, and sense of taste should also improve drastically. They won't be quite as good as mine, but Salazar could always hear conversations, that were going on in whispers, clear on the other side of the great Hall that were going on during dinnertime. He also developed the ability to smell when there was poisons and such in his food.

This became a rather useful ability for him, considering how many people attempted to poison him throughout the years. It was mainly students sadly, trying to poison their professor at the urge of their parents. Muggleborns predominantly though some pure bloods as well who thought he was dark.– She again sounded rather sad. – He was also able to enjoy his food more due to his sense of taste. Also between his sense of taste and sense of smell he was able to track people down almost as well as any animal that is known to be able to do such a thing. – 

Harry thought this over. – Anything else I need to know? – After a few moments of silence in which Viride was thinking it over she said,– After we bond you will also be able to look me in the eye and not be petrified or killed. You also be able to look any other basilisk, if there are any out there, in the eyes and live to tell the tale as well. – – Cool. – Said Harry – what must I do? –

A moment later Viride said – Just stand right there as still as you can, and bare your forearm. In a moment you will feel a prick. Please do not panic. That will just be me. I will be drawling a fang across your are. It should hurt for a few minutes as the then is assimilated into your bloodstream and into your magical core. Once the pain stops you can open your eyes, and we will be all finished.–

That sounded simple enough. Harry did as she asked, and stood as still as possible whilst rolling his sleeves up so that she could see his arm. He then slowly held out his bared arm. A moment later, pain shot up his arm. It was not nearly as bad as he remembered from his second year. Then he had felt like his insides were on fire. Now it was just a slight burning sensation, and he had felt much worse. Still the pain brought him to his knees as it spread throughout his body. It radiated out from his arm, down through his chest, and then down his legs and up to his head. When it stopped a few minutes later, he slowly stood up on shaky legs.

He then even more slowly opened his eyes and looked at Viride. He then proceeded to stand there for a minute with his mouth hanging wide open. It was so wide open in fact that it would have caught any flies in the chamber had there been any. He looked upon the basilisk in front of him for the first time. Well, it was technically the second time, but the first time she had been maimed and dead.

The creature in front of him was a truly beautiful beast. She was close to what had to be 60 feet long. Her scales where nearly the same color as his eyes, except perhaps a shade or two darker. Her whole body gleamed. She had ridges along her spine. The eyes that gazed at him in worry were huge and were also the same color as a sunflower. As he smiled reassuringly at her he got a smile in return. This showed off her rows of sharp teeth that shown in the light from the torches in the brackets along the walls.

A moment later he came to his senses and said – You really are a beautiful creature. – – Thank you Master– said Viride. – Is there anything else I can do for you? – She asked – Oh yes. – Said Harry – one last thing before I go. – – Of course master what is it?– Asked Viride – Could you please put a few drops of your venom onto this blade? – asked Harry as he pulled out his goblin made blade. – Of course master – said Viride. She did just that. Harry then left after assuring her that he would be back soon to visit. He still had to go destroy the diadem that night after all. He also really needed some sleep. He was thankful that he would be able to sleep in the next morning. He left the chamber of secrets as quickly and quietly as he could. He disillusioned himself again, and left the second floor girls bathroom and went on his way up to the seventh floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~

When he got to the spot across from a familiar tapestry, he proceeded to walk back and forth three times, while concentrating on the room filled with miscellaneous items that people had hid there for one reason or another. On the third pass he opened his eyes, and there was a familiar door. Glancing around one last time to make sure nobody was around, he proceeded to open the door. He walked inside.

It was just as messy in there as he remembered it. Everywhere he looked there were new things to see. Some of these things could still be very useful. He would have to come back here sometime and look through all these things. You never knew when you could use something such as an extra broom. He might even be able to fix the vanishing cabinet. If he could fix it, it would certainly be a quick and easy way to get to not only to Knockturn Alley but from there to Diagon Alley. Well, as long as nobody else bought the other vanishing cabinet that is. Maybe that summer, he would just have to go and buy it to be sure noone else did. He didn't want to go through the cabinet expecting to get to the alley only to end up in someone else's home after all especially, as it would be likely that said person would be dark considering that the other vanishing cabinet was in Knockturn Alley which was known for its dark shops that only dark individuals visited. 

Not to mention that it was in Borgin and Burkes which attracted dark individuals such as Lucius Malfoy. He would rather not end up in Malfoy Manor. He had way too many bad memories of there.

Breaking out of his thoughts, Hermione's screams as Bellatrix tortured her ringing through his mind, he tried to remember where exactly the diadem was. He wandered around a little bit looking at what he came across. He kept getting distracted by the interesting things he found. Finally ducking down a row he came across a familiar bust near a cabinet. Next to said bust was a very ugly looking tiara. It was the diadem. Not wanting to touch the thing, and therefore giving it the chance to attempt to possess him, he left it where it was. He then drew his dagger, and he then quickly slammed the dagger down into the diadem. With a scream, the diadem crumbled into dust.

Harry took a few moments to mourn loss of Ravenclaw's diadem. It really was a shame that Tom Riddle had to pick set an artifact to use for his horcrux. There was nothing for it now however. Moldy Voldy had to be destroyed. It was the only way to save his friends and many other who would die if he didn't do what he had to do.

Done with his job, he found his way out of the room. He promised himself that he would come back at a later date. He had to start going through some of that stuff. He then proceeded down to the hufflepuff common room, slipped inside and gladly sink into sleep.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days went by much the same as the previous week had. The main difference was that his senses were as Viride said they would be, well almost. When she said they would be drastically heightened, he had expected to be able to hear Malfoy plotting from across a noisy room or be able to know everywhere Quirrelmort had been just by scent. That was not the case however. If he concentrated he found he could follow recent scents he recognized and could hear a conversation on the other side of a small noisy classroom. He was actually disappointed. When he asked Viride why that was, she theorized that since he was much younger than Salazar was when he had been bitten, that his magic was not ready to accept great amounts of something else's magic. Especially so soon after he had come back in time. Eventually they would get much stronger, slowly at first then quicker until they would hopefully be at full capacity by the time he was to face Voldemort in the graveyard. Whatever the case, he was glad that he was able to hang out with Viride safely. Besides seeing Viride again, he was in the library with Neville and Hermione a lot. They did their homework first, and then they went to look at other books. With their first flying lesson coming up they were especially looking at books such as Quidditch Through the Ages for pointers. Harry, however, had something important he needed to do. He wanted to find a way to ward the castle against trolls if possible. He didn't want a repeat of Halloween his first year, the first time. Also, reading help build credence that he read a lot so that if he slipped up and displayed magic that was beyond the first year, he could just blame it on his readings.

Before Harry knew it, it was Thursday. It was the day of the first flying lesson. The day started out much the same as the previous ones. He went down to breakfast and sat with Neville and Hermione at the Ravenclaw table. They ate as normal, then the mail came. Just as had happened the first time around, Neville got a package from his gran containing a remembrall. Harry spent a moment hoping that Malfoy would just leave him alone. Sadly, it was not to be.

Just as had happened Harry's first time around, Malfoy sauntered over to the table and tried to steal Neville's remembrall. Just as Harry was about to chastise him and tell him give it back, Professor Flitwick came down and did what Harry was just about to do. Before Harry could say anything, Malfoy sauntered away.

The rest of the day went by the same way as the previous days did. Then it was time for their flying lesson. It began just as Harry remembered it with all of them stepping up to their brooms. Harry's came up on his first try whilst Hermione is and Neville's took longer to get up into their hands though not as long as the first time because Harry encouraged his friends. He knew they could do it. They never had liked flying, but they weren't so bad once they had gotten over their fears of the brooms,and heights, and falling, and hitting the ground.

Unfortunately, Harry was not able to stop Neville before he took off early once again. Up Neville rose into the sky with a panicked look upon his face, and then down he came. Harry would not let Neville get hurt though. Barely sticking out his wand, so no one would see, he thought ' arresto momentum'. Neville slowed down, and ended up uninjured. He was rather shaken up though. Everyone but Harry looked highly confused as to how Neville had slowed down. They had all expected him to hit the ground hard. Though most of them were thankful that he hadn't. Hooch had Hermione take Neville to the hospital wing in order for him to be given a calming draught.. Meanwhile, she turned back to the to continue to teach the rest of the class.

As she turned away from them, Harry caught Malfoy's movement out of the corner of his eye. He was reaching down to grab something. Harry realized that it was Neville's remembrall. Glancing around in order to make sure that noone was looking at him, he thought, 'Accio Neville's remembrall”. It came zooming into his hand just before Malfoy's hand closed on it. Malfoy looked around to see who had spotted him and taken the remembrall and spotted him with it in his hand. Harry just gave him a glare and turned back to the rest of the class.

Malfoy was learning. It would take time, but he would teach him to leave people alone, and that other people's things did not belong to him. He would teach him that pure bloods were not better than muggleborns or those considered blood traitors. Malfoy would learn. At the very least, Harry wanted to give him all the facts. He wasn't so bad, certainly not as bad as his father. He would keep him from getting so brainwashed yet. He would keep him from his previous fate. He would save him just as he would save his friends.


	10. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> another talk with Snape, meeting Fluffy, rest of September to the beginning of Halloween.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading and sorry about the cliffhanger

The next day’s potion’s class went rather well, especially compared to potions classes in his previous life. Snape wasn’t really that pleasant, but neither was he hostile either. Harry was once again able to prevent Neville from melting a cauldron. His potion also turned out well. Snape only scoffed at it a little bit, which Harry thought was rather good, certainly better than some reactions from previous potions. After he turned his potion in, he went to talk to Snape.

“Sir,” Said Harry.   
“Mr. Potter,” Said Snape with only a hint of a sneer. 

“I was wondering if I could come talk to you about my mother some time. I know that you told me how she looked like, but I have never really heard any stories about her. I have her diaries, but it would be different if I heard stories from someone who actually knew her. So, would it be ok if I came to your office sometime to hear stories about my mum?” Harry asked while practically projecting his feelings of want and sincerity towards Snape. 

After a moment of Snape practically staring Harry down, he said, “Fine, Mr. Potter. Be in my office on Wednesday right after dinner and I will tell you of your mother.” “Oh course, sir! Thank you, sir!” said Harry as he practically jumped up and down and left. 

He was certainly looking forward to hearing stories of his mum. He had never really heard stories of his mum before. Well, he had from Lupin, but he was a friend more to his father than his mother. He was looking forward to Wednesday.

That weekend was a rather busy weekend for Harry. First, on Saturday, he went to the room of requirement, like he had promised himself to do the previous weekend. He left Neville and Hermione in the library to make his way there.

He spent all of Saturday in the room of requirement. There were more things there than even Harry knew was there. By the time supper came around, he had barely made a dent in it. However, he had found numerous, books, brooms, several invisibility cloaks and other odds and ends. 

Some things he decided to keep. He put everything that he had decided to keep in his new bottomless bag that he had found. Everything else, he decided to just put in piles. He put all the brooms together, all the invisibility cloaks in another and so on and so forth. He also put everything that was broken and or useless in its own pile. He decided that he would come back when he could, to go through the rest of it. The last thing he did before supper was move the vanishing cabinet in there. He had forgotten that it hadn’t been broken yet. That was all the better for him. Now all he needed to do was buy the other one from Borgin and Burkes that summer, and then he would have a way from Potter Mansion to Hogwarts.

After that he went down to supper. There, he was questioned by Hermione and Neville on where he had been. He told them that he simply had something that he wanted to look at and that maybe he would show them sometime. They then left the subject alone, and proceeded on to other topics such as how their homework session had gone. It had gone well.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Harry was found in the library with Hermione and Neville. Neville was reading a book about magical plants form Asia. Hermione was looking at a transfiguration book. Harry was looking a book on wards. He thought it was high time to find a ward to place outside of the existing wards to protect the school against trolls.

Now Harry would never call himself an expert on wards, but he wasn’t bad. Like potions, wards were a necessary thing to learn during the war. You never knew when you would need to put up or take down a ward, and as the war went on, there were fewer and fewer curse breakers alive to take care of most of the work. Voldemort seemed to enjoy killing as many of them as he could.

Therefore, Harry knew the basics of wards, but not the specific ward that he would need in this case. He spent all of Sunday, looking through books on wards. Eventually he found the perfect ward, just as his stomach growled. 

He looked around and realized that they were all alone, because it was almost curfew. He looked at Hermione and Neville and realized that they had both fallen asleep on their books. He gently shook them awake. When he told them the time, Hermione started to freak out. Harry spent a few minutes calming her down. After, he calmed them down, he convinced them that they could really use some supper.

“How are we going to get supper Harry?” Asked Hermione. 

“Simple. The kitchens are near the Hufflepuff common room. I know where they are.” Said Harry. 

“But it is almost curfew. We’ll get caught!” exclaimed Hermione. 

“Nah,” said Harry. “I’ll make sure we don’t”

And indeed, Harry was confident that even without the map and his cloak that he would be able to keep them from getting caught. He really should have known better. 

They were not far from the library when they heard Filch. They all looked at each other and took off running. Blast that dang Mrs. Norris though. No matter where they ran, it seemed that Filch was not far behind. Before they knew it they were in front of what Harry immediately knew was the forbidden third floor corridor. He thought that it was the perfect time to introduce them to Fluffy and so he unlocked the door.

They soon heard Filch leave. They turned around with sighs of relief until they saw Fluffy and screamed. They ran out the door and with a mutual consensus they separated and went to their respective common rooms and forgot about dinner.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day had Hermione looking up what Fluffy was. She soon figured out that he was a Cerberus like the one from Greek mythology. They talked about how he was standing on a trap door, and wondered what he was guarding. Harry knew of course, but he wanted to let them figure it out on their own with little help from him.

The week went by quickly, what with homework and research. Wednesday evening saw Harry in Snape’s office right on time. They spent an hour and a half after supper just talking about Harry’s mother, Lily.  
“So, what did you want to know, Potter?” asked Snape.

“What was my mum like when she was younger?” asked Harry immediately.  
“Your mother Lily was,” Snape began a little hesitantly, “an amazing person and amazing witch. I met her when we were both children, before Hogwarts. She was playing with your aunt in the park not far from both of our houses. She liked the swings. She had the tendency to jump off at the zenith of the swing and float down with magic. Of course your aunt would scold her for it, but Lily wouldn’t listen. She was much too stubborn, and having too much fun. When I first explained to her what was going on, and what we both were, she would not believe me. However, we quickly became friends. 

“We spent seemingly endless days in the park just swinging and talking and staring at the clouds. I would tell her all about Hogwarts. She was so eager to hear and learn everything that she could about the school that we would both be attending. Eager to learn, that was Lily. It was a wonder sometimes, how she did not end up in Ravenclaw. She told me once that the sorting hat had definitely considered putting her there but in the end decided that she was as brave as she was smart and would be better suited for Gryffindor.

“She soaked up everything I told her about Hogwarts. I told her everything I knew. We spent a lot of our youth together. I went to your grandparent’s house a lot. Rose and Edward Evans were good people. Rose liked to bake a lot. Lily and I often helped her. Lily liked to bake almost as much as her mother did. Lily was her mother in miniature as far as her appearance went.

“Edward Evans was a kind man. He liked cars a lot. He owned and operated a mechanic shop just a few streets over from their house. He liked to tinker with cars and motorcycles in his spare time. He had blonde hair and brown eyes.

“We spent many evenings at Lily’s house. We had a good time. She taught me a lot about the muggle world. We went to the cinema and the mall. We spent a little time watching a television. We spent a lot of time together.

Lily herself was brave and smart. She was also a little shy, but she also had a temper like no other. She had the top grades in her class in her muggle primary school”

Snape went on to tell Harry many little stories about their childhood together. Stories about pets and trips. Harry soaked it all up like a sponge. Before they knew it, an hour and a half had passed and Harry was bidding Professor Snape a polite farewell and a heartfelt thanks. He left after Snape invited him back sometime, and went to bed with stories of his mum flashing through his head. 

He was very grateful to hear stories of his mum. Especially stories that he had never heard before. He couldn’t help but wish he had gotten on better terms with Snape in his first life. Though he was glad that he was getting to know him and talk to him now. He was actually looking forward to chats with him in the future. He couldn’t help but think about how this year was so different and yet so similar to his original first year. There were the same people, and the same classes, and yet the people around him were different and his relationships with them were different. And, as he drifted off into dreamland, he couldn’t help but be glad he came back and was thankful to Acara for giving him a second chance. Somewhere in the land of the non-living, said grim reaper smiled.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The rest of the month and a half or so until Halloween went by just as quickly as the first few weeks had. Harry split his time between, the library, where he would do homework and discuss Fluffy with Neville and Hermione, and going to the room of requirement to sort through all the crap in there. He found a lot more useful stuff such as a sneakoscope. 

When he was not either of those places he was talking with Snape, Hagrid, or Viride. Snape continued to tell him more about his mother, not only about their time before Hogwarts but during Hogwarts as well. He didn’t tell him any stories from after fifth year and Harry knew better than to ask. Even so, he learned more about his mum than he ever expected to.

Hagrid told him several stories about his parents as well. Some days, he, Neville, and Hermione went down to his hut just to hang out and talk with him. Fang adored them. They had a good time. Of course they never dared to eat his rock cakes. They preferred to keep all of their teeth, especially Hermione because her dentist parents would be mad if she came home with chipped and or missing teeth.

Viride and Harry quickly became close. He went down there to chat with her about just about everything. She was his confidant. She was the only creature in the entire living world who knew all of his secrets. Acara had never told him that he couldn’t tell the basilisk after all, and he was pretty sure she wouldn’t be mad. If she was, he was sure that she would have found some way to get him a message without getting into trouble.

He had found that the bond had indeed kicked in. His senses barring sight had increased. He was also much better at sneaking around, the day of the encounter with Fluffy excluded. This was good, considering how often he was out of bed after curfew.

The first night that he was out past curfew on his own came near the end of September. He snuck as silently and quickly as he could through the school and out through the front door. He had to put up the ward to keep out trolls before Halloween. So, he spent a Friday night putting up the ward.

He stood out in the forbidden forest just outside of where he felt the school wards end. He quickly cast the ward and drew runes on a ward stone that he had prepared previously. By the time he was finished, he was absolutely exhausted, but it was worth it. Not only did the ward not trip any of Hogwarts wards, but it was an absolute success. This actually surprised Harry a bit. He was really not a ward master, and this was a complicated ward especially for someone in an eleven year old’s body. There would be no trolls getting in on Halloween which was his goal. He then slipped back inside the castle, fell exhausted into bed, and slept in the next morning.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Before Harry knew it, it was Halloween. He couldn’t help the feeling of dread that permeated his body. He knew he had kept the troll out, but he was sure that Quirrel would find a way to distract the school and try to get into the third floor.

The day started the same as any other. Hermione and Neville were both excited about the feast. They had heard many wonderful things from the upper years. They couldn’t understand why Harry was in a bad mood. Harry didn’t even bother to try explaining the real reason and he didn’t have to. As soon as he mentioned his parents’ deaths’, they were kind enough and smart enough to leave him alone.

That evening, they walked into the great hall. Then, they stopped. The decorations were as amazing as Harry remembered them being. Even Harry had to smile a bit at the reminder that the school still stood and no matter how much he knew about the war to come, the rest of the school didn’t and was still going on as normal.

They sat down together at the Gryffindor table. They spent the feast chatting with each other and enjoying the feast. Even Harry was starting to relax when the doors sprung open  
“SPIDERS! In the castle! Just thought you ought to know.” Exclaimed Quirrel as he passed out. Everyone was just starting to get up and scream when a very familiar giant spider came in behind Quirrel. Harry just hated it when he was right.


	11. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a brief bonus chapter about how Quirrel encountered Aragog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading

It was a dark Halloween night. The time when the veil between the living and the dead was at its thinnest. All of the residents of Hogwart's castle should be inside preparing for the great feast that was about to take place. However, that was not totally the case.

The one known as Quirrel, could be seen walking through the edge of the forbidden forest, that is if anyone had bothered to look. Quirrel, though noone else knew for sure , was on a mission for his lord, Voldemort. He had been tasked with the most important task of getting the philosopher's stone right out from under that bumbling old fool Dumbledore's nose.

He quickly walked through the wards as quickly and silently as he could. He had a plan. Tonight, while everyone else was distracted by the feast, he would unleash a troll upon the castle to reek havoc. While, everyone else was distracted, he would approach the third floor to evaluate the defenses of the stone.

He quickly found his way to where he had the troll. It was a fully grown mountain troll, but it posed no problem to him. He had a way with trolls. He led it towards the castle, but just as the castle was coming into sight through the trees, the troll stopped. He tried to urge it forward, but it wouldn't budge. He couldn't figure out why. Suddenly, in a great rage, the troll turned back towards the forest and started running away.

“What are you waiting for, you nitwit, go and get it” hissed a voice suddenly.

That is what Quirrel did. He chased the troll through the forest. The brush under his feet tripped him up several times, and before he knew it he had lost the troll and was lost. “You fool” hissed the voice once again.

“Who dares disturb me” came another voice, a voice laced with poison. Quirrel tried backing away, but backed into something big. Slowing turning around, he came face to face what could only be described as a giant spider. Before Quirrel knew it he was surrounded.

“Why are you here?” asked the same voice as before, which turned out to be the spider in front of him.  
“ppppplease. I am just llllooking for my tttttroll.” stuttered Quirrel.  
“Well then good bye man who is looking for troll.” said the spider as it moved forward.  
“nnnoo! Wait please. Mmmaybe you could help me iiinstead.” said Quirrel thinking fast.

“Why would we help you when we are so hungry? My children need to eat.” said the spider.

“Ffffood that is what I am offering you.” said Quirrel.

“Explain quickly.” demanded the spider.

“I nnnneeed a distraction at the school. Aaaall you have to do is distract the the teachers. Yyyyou can eat whomever you llllike. HHHHundreds of students. I will lllead you there.” said Quirrel.

“Say you the truth human?” asked the spider. “ I dddo” said Quirrel.

After a few minutes of clicking noises to another spider, the spider agreed. Quirrel still did not know where exactly he was but with a quick point me, he led the spiders in the general direction of the castle. It wasn't long before, they got there. Luckily for Quirrel, the spiders did not seem to be affected by whatever had affected the troll.

Up to the castle they quickly went and through the front door. It was too easy. It was not long before they were in front of the doors to the great hall. They could just hear the clinking of glasses and plates and the murmurs of voices from inside. After instructing the spiders to wait a minute before going in Quirrel pushed open the doors and said, “Spiders! In the castle! Just thought you ought to know.” before pretending to pass out. The spiders then came in and the screaming began.


	12. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Halloween and the morning after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading.

Before Harry or anyone really could do anything, Aragog lunged towards the nearest student. Now most students had been smart enough to start backing up as soon as they saw the spiders. All the students in the area had except for one that was very familiar to Harry.

A boy with red hair and freckles did not back up. Ronald Weasley was frozen in place by fear. So when the giant spider, Aragog, lunged towards him, all he did was scream. Another scream of a different sort joined his. Harry did not want Aragog to hurt his ex friend, despite how rude he had been to him and his friends this time around. So, he fired a stunner at who he knew was Aragog.

The stunner did not affect Aragog very much. It slowed him down for just a few seconds. This was just enough time for Ron to be able to start backing away rather quickly to the point where he was soon with the other students. With Harry now the closest student, not to mention the one that tried to stun Aragog making him rather angry, Aragog turned menacingly towards him.

Meanwhile, the rest of the students were backed up against the far wall, behind the teacher's table. The teachers themselves, except for Snape and Quirrel, as well as some older students surged towards the rest of the spiders that were entering the great hall.

Therefore, as soon as Aragog turned towards Harry, he found himself being hit by another stunner. Harry, knowing that the teachers and older students probably had the situation in hand now and having to pretend to be just another first year student if a little bit more knowledgeable, backed away towards the far wall with the other students.

Spells of all colors were flying towards the spiders. It reminded Harry eerily of the last battle that had occurred there except instead of fighting Voldemort and his death eaters, they were fighting Aragog and his army of spiders. It became even more eerie to Harry when he remembered that Aragog's mate and children had been at that particular battle as well, fighting on Voldemort's side.

Harry shook a little at that thought. He really did not want to remember the battle that was the beginning of the end of his previous life. The pain and horrors that he had seen were something that he would rather forgot though he knew that he never would and couldn't. He had to remember what he was fighting for after all. He was so caught up in his memories and thoughts that for a few minutes he lost track of the battle.

When he came to himself again, he realized that the battle was winding down. Some of the smaller spiders were dead. Most of the bigger ones were not though. They were beginning to back up. Hagrid was clearly trying to talk to Aragog. He had tears running down his cheeks.

Harry couldn't hear him over the shouts as spells were fired, but he was sure that he was trying to convince Aragog to behave and leave them all alone. It was clear to Harry that Aragog did not want to. However, most of the small spiders were now dead and the bigger ones had injuries. Slowly Aragog and company left the great hall.

Professors Flitwick and McGonagall followed them out. They came back a few minutes later saying that they had left the grounds.

“All students please remain calm. There is no reason to continue panicking. The threat is gone now. There is no reason to worry. Prefects please escort your charges back to your common rooms. Any student that needs a calming draught, please go see Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing. This includes you Mr. Weasley.” Dumbledore said. With that last statement, Ron had gone rather red.

“Teachers please stay here and help me clean up this mess. Thank you.” finished Dumbledore.

Harry had just started to move to begin following the other Hufflepuffs when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Harry turned his head slightly to see that it was Dumbledore.

“Harry, I would appreciate it if you would go to the hospital wing as well.” stated Dumbledore.

“Why professor?” asked Harry.

“Well first off, you faced a spider to save Mr. Weasley. Which was very Gryffindor of you if I might add.” said Dumbledore.

“Well the hat did consider putting me in Gryffindor professor, but in the end it decided on Hufflepuff. Thank you for your concern sir, but I am fine.” replied Harry.

“So then I come to my second reason.” said Dumbledore. “You are shaking.”

And so Harry was. He had not realized it, but he was still shaking from when he had been caught up in his memories of the battle of Hogwarts.”

“So I am professor, but really I am fine. This is probably just the adrenalin wearing off.” said Harry, making up an excuse to why he had been shaking. He obviously couldn't tell the professor the real reason why he was currently shaking.

“None the less, Harry, I would feel much better if I knew you were being taken care of in the hospital wing.” said Professor Dumbledore.

“Alright professor. I will head there now.” said Harry, backing away and intending to do no such thing.  
Dumbledore's hand that was still on his shoulder tightened. As if Dumbledore knew what he was thinking, and Harry checked to make sure that he was reading his mind, he said “ I will escort you.”

“No that is alright professor. I know the way to the hospital wing.” said Harry.

“I insist my boy.” said Dumbledore as he led Harry out of the great hall after telling McGonagall where they were going.

And so Harry found himself being walked to the hospital wing by Dumbledore in silence with only his thoughts. Harry was furious. He did not enjoy being told what to do. He was fine and he knew it. However, there was not much he could do about it. Oh he could insist and through a fit like the eleven year old that he was was in body, but he really did not feel like stooping so low as to that. He could curse Dumbledore, which was appealing for the moment, but that would come back to bite him. Therefore, he would just have to use his Slytherin side and find a way to sneak out later. Just as he finished that thought, they reached the hospital wing.

They were soon pushing open the doors to the hospital wing. "Poppy". Called Dumbledore. 

"In a moment Albus" said Poppy. She was currently busy with Ron. No matter what suggestion that Dumbledore had made or that fact that it had been Dumbledore that had made it, Harry had doubted that very many students would go to the hospital wing. They wouldn't want it to be known that they were afraid of a spider, even if those spiders happened to be the size of Hagrid's hut. He found that he was correct. The only ones in the room were Ron and Madam Pomfrey. Madam Pomfrey was currently helping Ron into a bed. She gave him a potion. It quickly became apparent to Harry that it was a sleeping draught because a moment later, he dropped off to sleep. 

A minute later, after she had gone to her office, Madam Pomfrey came over to them and asked, "What can I do for you Albus? You were not injured were you?"

"No Poppy, I am fine..." Dumbledore started. Then Madam Pomfrey broke into the middle of it to rant " How could spiders get into the school Albus?! Spiders! Giant Spiders! Scaring students half to death". 

"Poppy" said Dumbledore in a calming voice. 

" I am surprised that more students haven't come here wanting calming draughts.." 

"Poppy." Dumbledore tried again. 

"I mean Ronald Weasley is enough. Poor boy is scared out of his wits." 

"POPPY!" Yelled Dumbledore. 

"What?" She asked moodily. 

" I have Mr. Potter here for a calming draught."   
"Oh sorry Albus. I will take care of him immediately." They turned towards Harry to take care of him, but found that they couldn't because he was no where to be seen.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~

Said boy was currently on his way to the Hufflepuff common room. He couldn't believe his luck. For once something had actually gone his way. He had meant it when he had told Dumbledore that he was OK. He had seen much worse before, and Aragog hadn't really scared him since his original second year. 

By now he had stopped his shaking. He was a little bit worried. If, no, when he got thrust into a battle in the future, he really hoped he would not be affected by his memories like he had been this time. He hoped that as he got used to being in the past, a past where Voldemort had not yet come back, a past where battles had not happened for ten years and numerous people who had been dead were once again alive, that it would not happen so much if ever again. He had only been there for three months after all.

He was just glad that he had gotten away from the hospital wing with Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey none the wiser. He hoped that by the time that they realized that he was no longer there that he was long gone. He really did not want to be fussed over. He just wanted to go to sleep, and he knew that he would probably have some explaining to do when he got back to the common room. After all, the whole school had seen Dumbledore walk him out of the great hall. Not to mention that they had seen him face a giant spider when only the teachers and the older students had dared. None of the others from the lower years had done anything. They probably hadn't even thought to. Nor would most of them have been able to. Well they could have but then they would have probably just injured themselves or gotten themselves killed.

He soon came to his common room. As he had expected, it was filled with people. Harry tried to walk past without being noticed but it was not meant to be. It seemed his normal luck was back with a vengeance.

They all crowded around him asking him questions like 'Why did he face the spider?' and 'Where did Dumbledore take him?' He stood there silently for a few minutes getting madder and madder until he pulled a Dumbledore and yelled, “SILENCE!” Surprisingly enough, everyone shut up.

“If you would like for me to answer your questions, I will, but you must be quiet.” Harry said a little icily, for he really was tired. It had after all been a long day of worrying, not to mention actually facing Aragog in itself was tiring even if he had only thrown one spell at him.

“When I stop talking, I will go to sleep because I am tired. I will not answer anymore question until tomorrow at the earliest, understood?” Harry finished. The students around him nodded.

“Alright then. I sent a spell at the spider because I saw that it was going to hurt Ronald Weasley. Now I will be that first to admit that he and I do not get along but that does not mean that I wanted to see him injured or maybe even killed if I thought I could help prevent it. Secondly, Dumbledore took me to the hospital wing because he thought that I needed a calming draught. He was wrong but that is besides the point in this case. Now if you will excuse me I am going to bed.” And with that, Harry did as he said and walked past everyone to his room. By the time his roommates came in five minutes later, Harry was already deeply asleep. Anymore questions that they might have had would have to wait until morning, just as Harry had told them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Harry made sure to get up earlier than his roommates and indeed than the rest of the house. He just wanted to spend a quiet day in the library considering that Dumbledore had canceled the days classes so that the students could calm down from the previous night's excitement. He stopped in the kitchens for a quick breakfast then he made his way towards the library.

As he stepped into the entrance hall, he almost ran into a couple of figures. Looking up, he realized it was none other than the Weasley parents and there beside them was none other than a blushing Ginny Weasley. Once again he was briefly sucked into memories. Terrible images of their deaths, but he snapped himself out of it as he realized that Mrs. Weasley was asking him if he was alright.

“I am fine. Just a little sleepy is all. I am sorry for almost running into you Mr. and Mrs.?” Harry asked.

“Weasley. Molly and Arthur, and this is our daughter Ginny. Say hello Ginny dear.” said Mrs. Weasley.

“Hello.” Ginny practically squeaked while looking at Harry with wide eyes.

“Pleasure to meet you. I am Harry Potter.” said Harry. He saw their eyes go wide. He then continued before they could say anything else. “I suppose you are here to see Ronald.”

“Yes we are. He is our youngest son. We got an owl from the headmaster this morning saying that he was injured last night and we had to come and see him. Do you know him?” asked Mr. Weasley.

“Ah yes that makes sense, and yes I do know your son. We share some classes. I don't see him very much. He is a Gryffindor and I am a Hufflepuff. He doesn't seem like a bad person though. I was sorry to hear that he had to go to the hospital wing last night. However, I also hear that he just needed calming and sleeping draughts. I am sure that he is fine.”

“Thank you for informing us. It is a relief to hear that our son is OK. Though we are still going to see him.” said Mr. Weasley.

“Oh course. It was no problem. I certainly hope to hear that he is able to leave the hospital wing soon. I hear that Madam Pomfrey is a bit fierce and I know that I would never like to be in a place like the hospital wing for too long. They are boring places.”

“Yes so they are.”

“Yah. Well I hope you have a good day.” Harry was about to turn around and walk away but changed his mind at the last minute.  
Instead he said, “Hey Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. If you like I could keep Ginny occupied while you are in the hospital wing.”

“I don't know. Don't you have classes to get to?” Mr. Weasley said dubiously.

“No sir.” said Harry. “Professor Dumbledore canceled the classes for today and I would love to take Ginny on the tour of the castle. As long as that is alright.”

The Weasleys looked at each other and asked Ginny what she wanted. Kind of shyly she replied that she would like to see the castle. So the elder Weasleys gave their OK. Harry told them that he would bring Ginny to the hospital wing when they were done. And then they were off.


	13. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry gives Ginny a tour of the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything that you recognize. Thanks for reading. Also, thanks pinkrose14 from fanfiction.net for betaing!

Ginny rather shyly took Harry's hand. She looked over her shoulder once to see her parents disappear up the grand staircase. She was obviously rather nervous but also rather excited to be going with Harry. Harry remembered that at this age Ginny had a very big crush on him. He hoped that she would be able to get over her shyness quickly. He wanted to be friends with her. He knew that she would never be his Ginny, not exactly. His Ginny had had to fight in a war, and had died in a war. He certainly did not want to her to have to go through that just so that she could become more like the Ginny he remembered.

Harry decided to start the tour in the dungeons,and go from the bottom up. He figured that that would be the most efficient way to show her the castle. He could have started from the top and gone towards the bottom, but they were closer to the bottom than the top. Not to mention that he wanted to say hello to Snape and knew that he would be heading to breakfast soon. He also wanted to check on the man. Even with all the previous night's excitement, he had not failed to notice that both Snape and Quirrel had left sometime in the middle of the battle. He knew that Snape had, just as he had originally, gone to stop Quirrel from getting into the third floor corridor. He also remembered that if the encounter went similarly as it had last time, then Snape would have been injured by Fluffy, and Harry wanted to make sure the man was alright.

Harry tried not to show his anxiety to Ginny. He was really happy to see her alive, but he didn't want to spook her too much. If he wanted any chance of being her friend and of knocking out of her fan girl tenancies then he knew that he would have to be gentle with her to get her to relax.

This was an excellent chance to get to know her earlier than he had previously. He had wanted to write to her for sometime, but could never figure out a good explanation as to how he knew who she was and why he wanted to get to know her. After all, he hadn't seen her at the train station this time. Nor was he Ron's friend at the moment so he couldn't use him mentioning her as an excuse. Oh well, Harry mentally shook himself. She's here now, and he continued leading her down to the dungeons.

 

“Ah Harry?” Ginny asked rather quietly and hesitantly.

“Yes Ginny. You have a question? If you do feel free to ask. I don't bite.” Harry said as he smiled at her.

She gave him a hesitant smile and asked, “Why are we heading underground? This looks like it leads to the dungeons. I thought that was a snake pit. That is what Ron and the twins always call it. It is where the Slytherins are. Won't they get angry for us being there? Aren't most of them family to death eaters? They won't want us down there will they? I mean you are the boy-who-lived, and I am a Weasley. They consider my family blood traitors. Why would we head there?” She finished softly.

 

“First off let me assure you that not every Slytherin is evil.” at her skeptical look he continued, “It is true. Slytherins have to be cunning and ambitious. Being cunning and ambitious does not make someone evil. It just makes someone more able to get what they want. Sure, what some want is power, and sure some of them do turn out to be evil. Not all Slytherins are evil though just as not everyone from the other houses are good either. The man that betrayed my parents to Voldemort was a Gryffindor, for example. Sure some Slytherins belong to families that were death eaters, but not all are. 

 

Also, I will let you in on a little secret.” Here Ginny leaned in closer.

“The hat considered putting me in Slytherin.”

“Really?” Ginny asked.

 

“Yeah. I certainly hope you don't think I am evil.”said Harry with a bit of a smile.

“No. How could I think you are evil. I don't know you that well.” said Ginny.

“My other point is that exactly. Because Slytherins are ostracized by the rest of the school, noone outside the house really gets to know them so how can people know exactly what they are like.”

 

Harry did not know quite why he was defending the Slytherins. Maybe it had to do with the fact that in his previous life he had gotten to know them better. He still didn't particularly like the Slytherins or get along with all of them, but he knew what he said was true. Not all the Slytherins were death eaters. The Greengrasses were not death eaters for instance.

Also, he hated bullies, and the fact was that many people from other house picked on Slytherins just because they were Slytherins. How could they control what house they were sorted into? Harry just didn't understand it. Then there was also the fact that he got along with some of the Slytherins. Draco was coming along quite nicely. He hadn't picked fights with him or his friends since that day on the train. He was even coming to hope that maybe he could get a new friendship out of the deal. Who would have figured right? Harry also knew that the only reason that some of these children of death eaters joined the death eaters was because of either their parents influence ( including threats), being isolated from the other houses due to bullying and so feeling that they had to join to keep the friends they had or both. It was kind of sad really.

“Really?” asked Ginny.

“Yes. Most people don't seem to get that the sorting hat chooses your house. You get some choice in the matter, but not much. For instance if you wanted to be in Ravenclaw but you didn't really like books then no matter how much you tried, the hat would never place you there. However, if you were both brave and smart then you could probably convince the hat to place you in Ravenclaw even if you were a tad bit more brave than book smart.”

There was a few minutes silence as Ginny seemed to think this over then she quietly asked, “If you don't mind me asking why did the hat want to put you in Slytherin?”

 

“Well, first off, you should know that I could have gone into any of the houses.”

Ginny looked at him a little weird, but Harry didn't mind. He was just glad that she was coming out of her shell a bit.

“Yes the sorting hat said that I was courageous and brave like a Gryffindor, I could also use logic and be as cunning as well as any Slytherin, and am as knowledgeable and liked to read books as much as any Ravenclaw. However, I apparently don't go running headfirst into battle like Gryffindors do and knowledge and cunning are not my predominant traits. I am more loyal than anything else though I am sure that if I wanted to get into any of the other houses badly enough then the sorting hat would have let me.”

“Wow.” said Ginny softly then she asked. “What's the sorting hat?”

“The sorting hat was created by Godric Gryffindor. It was his hat. However, when the founders realized that they wouldn't be around to sort the student themselves forever, they came up with the sorting hat. They put brains in the hat's head though not literally. At least I hope not literally. So, now at the beginning of each school year, every first year gets the chance to put it on. It looks through your memories and decides what house you belong in.”

Ginny looked a little pale after he mentioned that it looked through memories no doubt worrying about what it would see next year. So he added. “Don't worry it doesn't hurt. Also, it is bound to secrecy. It can't reveal anything that it sees,not even to the headmaster.”

She looked a little less worried at this then said, “I should have know better than to have listened to Fred and George. They were going on about having to fight a troll. Thank you for telling me.”  
“No problem.” replied Harry. “If you like, and if you have any other questions, you can always owl me.”

“Really!” squeaked Ginny. “Yeah. I have a beautiful snowy owl named Hedwig. She doesn't get nearly enough exercise seeing as how my only correspondent is Hagrid. She and I would both appreciate it if I had someone else to send letters to.”

“Well... OK....If you are sure.” she said. “ I am. Now come. If you want to see the castle today, we had better hurry. It is rather large.” With that they hurried through the dungeons.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dungeon part of the tour went rather fast. This was mostly because Harry had never spent much time down there. He had never really had a reason too. So he knew where the potions classroom was and where Snape's office was. He also knew where the Slytherin and Hufflepuff common rooms were and the kitchen was.

He could not show her the inside of the common rooms. She seemed to understand. The reason why he couldn't show her the inside of the Slytherin common room was obvious, he wasn't a Slytherin. She also seemed to understand that he couldn't show her the inside of the Hufflepuff common room because she might not end up in Hufflepuff like he was

He did show her the kitchens though. As usual, the house elves were very excited to have visitors. They practically tripped over each other to help them especially when they heard that Ginny hadn't had time for breakfast that morning. Harry also had a little snack. He found it hard to refuse the little guys when they wanted to get him something which was every time that he went in there.

After they were full, they left the kitchens and almost ran right into the man that Harry had wanted to see. He hadn't been in his office when he had pointed it out to Ginny. Professor Snape looked at Harry with only a trace of a sneer and said, “Watch where you are walking,Potter.”

“Yes sir. Sorry sir.” said Harry. “I was just showing Ginny Weasley the castle sir. Her parents are here to see her brother in the hospital wing, and I offered to show her around.”

“Another Weasley.” sneered Snape. “You would do best to try to learn from your brothers' mistakes. Thorns in my sides the lot of them.”

“Yes sir.” said Ginny quietly and once again intimidated.

 

“Hey Ginny. Would you wait for me at the end of the hallway? I have to ask the professor a question.

“Sure Harry.” said a very relieved Ginny. She walked to the other end of the hallway and waited for him there.

Harry looked at Snape and sure enough, the man had a limp. “Are you alright Professor?” Harry asked.

“Why wouldn't I be?” asked Snape.

“Well, you see Professor, I noticed when you walked up to me that you were limping and I know being a potions master and all that you are able to take care of yourself, but I still worry.”said Harry.

Professor Snape's expression softened a little as he said, “I am fine, I assure. It is nothing that I can't take care of. Now you had best be on your way. It looks like Miss Weasley,”here he paused and sneered in Ginny's direction, “Is unable to stand still.”

Sure enough when Harry looked, Ginny was rocking back and forth on her feet. “Oh course sir. Have a good day and get better, sir.” said Harry.

“ Oh course I will Potter now run along.” said Snape. And with that they parted ways, Snape to go back to his office to do whatever and Harry to continue Ginny's tour of the castle.

~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~  
The rest of tour of the castle went as quick as it could. Harry showed Ginny the great hall first after that. He enjoyed seeing her face as she saw the ceiling for the first time. It really was quite pretty. He told her the history of it that he had learned from reading Hogwarts: A History. She was amazed.

He then took her to all of the classrooms. He made sure that she remembered where they were going so that she wouldn't get lost next year when she came or at least not as much as she would have otherwise. He also pointed out where all the teacher's offices were, and Filch's office. He also told her as much history as he knew which was a considerable amount. He also showed her a few of the secret passageways though not all of them. He also decided against showing her the room of requirement at least for the time being. All and all it was an enjoyable morning. He got to spend time with her, and she got to see the castle and hopefully learned enough not to get lost when she returned as a first year the next year.

The only unenjoyable part of the experience was that people kept giving them weird looks. Whether that was because of the previous night or the fact that Ginny was walking beside him, he wasn't sure that it was probably some of both. It was alright. He was expecting it, not that he enjoyed it.

Soon they were in the hospital wing. Harry walked Ginny in.

“Hi Ginny dear.” said Mrs. Weasley.

“Did you have a nice time?” Mr. Weasley asked.

“I did. This castle is so big and beautiful. I can't wait to come here next year. Why can't I come now!?” Ginny said excitedly with a bit of a whine at the end.

Her parents just laughed a bit. Then Mrs. Weasley said,“You have got to wait till you are eleven, Ginny dear. Not to mention that it is the middle of term. Time will go by fast don't you worry.”

They then proceeded to say goodbye to Ron and thanked Harry for taking Ginny on a tour. He replied that it was no problem and that he actually enjoyed it. They then left. Harry was about to leave before Madam Pomfrey came out and accosted him when he heard a quiet, “Harry.”

 

He turned around to see that it was Ron. He said,“Yes?”

What came next was quite unexpected. He thanked Harry for saving his life and apologized for being a git. Harry accepted his apologies, and left the hospital wing. Maybe there was hope for a friendship with Ron yet. They probably wouldn't be as close as they had been before but that was alright. He wasn't really expecting them to be.


	14. chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> one more thing off Harry's list

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading! I do really appreciate you guys. You are all awesome! Special thanks to pinkrose14 from fanfiction.net for betaing this chapter. If you like my works feel free to check out my original work. It is a book of poems called To See The World As I See It. It is for nook and kindle. Thanks again for reading!

After Ginny left, Harry spent the rest of the day in the library working on reading up on various things. Just because Halloween was over did not mean that that years dangers were over, not by a long shot. While there he also pondered his list that he had made while staying in the Potter Mansion before the year had begun. He was rather pleased with what he had gotten done. He had been able to cross several things off of his list and was working on several others, and it had only been a little over two months since school had begun. 

 

Now he was looking at number twelve, start up DA if possible. He was deciding what to do about it. He really did want the DA started up earlier than before. Even if he did prevent Voldemort from starting up the war again, he still wanted the students to be prepared. He knew that because of Voldemort's curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, that most witches and wizards never did get a proper education in it. Evidence of this was in the days aurors, most of whom couldn't even cast a proper patronus like he could at age thirteen none the less. If these aurors, and even everyday witches and wizards, had been trained properly then the war might have turned out a little better or at least they might have lasted a little longer. He wanted to start a club to help the witches and wizards of Hogwarts, and start to fix the education there so that if there ever was a new dark lord someday, and there was bound to be after all light shines brightest in the dark, then they would be ready. The sooner the beginning of a solution the better.

The problem was that in this time he was just an eleven year old first-year, or at least that was all they knew him as. Sure he had something like a decades experience of fighting in a war, and had fought Voldemort so many times that he had lost count, and had a repertoire of spells that surpassed most aurors, but they didn't know that. Sure, he was the boy-who-lived but that didn't mean so much to the world when it came to fighting. They would never trust an ickle firstie to teach them. So, the question was what to do.

He spent the rest of the day thinking, and then just before dinner he thought of the solution. It was so simple. How did he not think of it sooner, he thought as he rushed to dinner. He did not need to teach them. He had spent so many years relying on himself and his friends, more so on himself as his friends were killed one by one, that he had forgotten that in this time there were some teachers who were perfectly capable of teaching the students what they needed to know.

As he entered the great hall he could not help the scene that flashed before his eyes as he thought of a dueling club. He smirked to himself as he remembered Lockhart being thrown across the room. He then approached the teacher's dais.

Now he was quite hopeful in his plan. He knew that the professors such as McGonagall, Snape, and Flitwick did not like the defense situation any more than he did. He could only hope that this would encourage them to be able to look beyond his status as a first-year to hear his suggestion and actually consider it. He decided to approach Professor Snape, because due to the talks he had with the man every week or so, he was actually on the best terms with him out of three teachers that he had in mind to talk to. Not to mention that he was an excellent defense professor, or was in his sixth year in the previous time line anyway.

“Excuse me Professor Snape, sir.” said Harry. All the teachers were looking at him weirdly. It was as if it was weird to see a student walk up there. Oh wait, it was. Oops. Now he was getting stared at even more. Oh well. He would deal with it.

“Yes Potter.” said Snape with just a hint of a sneer present.

“I was wondering if after dinner, I could talk with you and Professors McGonagall and Flitwick?”  
asked Harry.

“You would like to talk with us about something Mr. Potter?” asked Professor McGonagall.

“Yes ma'am, I would.” said Harry.

“About what? Are you alright Mr. Potter?” asked Professor Flitwick “You are not being bullied or anything are you because if that is the case then we should really involve Professor Sprout. She is your head of house after all.”

“Oh no sir. It is nothing like that at all. I was just in the library this afternoon,” Snape snorted as Harry said that. Harry gave him a bit of a dark look and then continued, “and I came up with a suggestion for a new club that I would like to present to you.”

“Well, Mr. Potter, I suppose I could find some time though the headmaster needs to be included if it is to be an official club.” said Professor McGonagall.

“Oh course Professor.” said Harry a little reluctantly. 

He still liked the headmaster, but as he no longer fully trusted him, he hadn't wanted to get him involved and even more suspicious than he was. He knew that even though Dumbledore had believed him when he had told him about leaving the Dursleys, he also knew that Dumbledore expected him to return there this summer. That was something that Harry had no intention of doing. Not to mention the fact that he had lived about fourteen more years than they thought he did and that he was planning many things that he did not want the man to catch wind of. Otherwise, he would try to stop him or at the very least mess things up. Therefore, he wanted to spend as little time in the headmaster's company as possible.

 

He had very little choice in this matter, in this case as he wanted to have the DA as an official club. If he wanted it as an official club, then he would have to deal with the headmaster's presence. After being told where Professor McGonagall's office was, and told to go there after dinner, he went and sat down between Neville and Hermione.

They asked him what that was all about and where he was all day. He told them that he would tell them about the discussion that he had just had later, but he did tell them all about Ginny, and the tour that he gave her. Neville thought that it was a little weird that he would be so nice to Ron's sister while Hermione thought that it was very nice of him to do something like that. Harry then told them that just because one person is not so nice does not mean that their whole family is that way. He then pointed out Fred and George as an example. He then told them about Ron's apologies. They were stunned.

Soon dinner was at an end. Harry bid Neville and Hermione a farewell, as they went to the library to read and Harry made his way to Professor McGonagall’s office.

He knocked and he was bid to enter. The office was just as Harry remembered it from the few times that he had been in it his previous life. In the office there was was well used oak desk. On the desk there was neatly stacked paperwork. Behind the desk was a dark red chair that looked rather comfortable. There was a muggle filing cabinet behind the desk. There were two chairs of a similar nature to McGonagall's in front of the desk. 

On the other side of the room from the desk was a fire place. It was the same one that Harry and the other Gryffindors had come back through after their Christmas holidays during his previous sixth year. Not far from the fireplace was two more chairs. They were close enough that if you were sitting in them you would feel the warmth from the fire but far enough away that if someone were to come through then they would not run into the chairs. 

The rest of the walls had several bookcases filled to the brim with books against them. Above the filing cabinet was a plaque that listed the years that Gryffindor had won the house and Quidditch cups. The room in general was also decorated in Gryffindor colors, which was not a big surprise considering she was the Gryffindor head of house.

McGonagall's chair as well as one of the ones in front of her desk and one from near the fireplace were currently occupied. McGonagall was in her chair with Flitwick in front of her. Professor Dumbledore had brought one of the chairs from near the fireplace closer to the desk. Professor Snape was standing near the door. The other chair in front of McGonagall's desk was currently unoccupied. It was to the chair that she gestured that he sit.

“What can we do for you Mr. Potter?” asked Professor McGonagall.

“You said you had a suggestion for a club?” squeaked Professor Flitwick.

“Yes.” said Harry. He then began his pitch, “I know that I have only been a student here for a little over three months, but even I have heard things about the defense against the dark arts position.”

“What sort of things my boy?” asked Dumbledore.

“Things such as it is cursed. I have heard from the older students that the teachers for the subject never last more than a year. No matter what happens or how good or bad of a teacher that they are they are always forced to leave the school before their year of teaching is up whether it be because of something so simple as them deciding to retire or something as gruesome as them losing limbs. The older years have told me that this makes for a very uneven education. They tell me that even though some of the teachers are quite good others are not, and so that even when you do get a good teacher then they spend the whole year trying to catch all of the students up to where they are supposed to be. 

I may be no Ravenclaw professors but I do take my education very seriously. I would like to have the best education that I could possibly attain. That will not happen if I do not get a well rounded education in Defense. Not to insult Professor Quirrel or anything, but I would have to say that he is not the best teacher. He seems afraid of his own shadow, and because of his stuttering, I know that I and many of my classmates cannot understand a word he says.

Now I am not proposing to get rid of him. From what I understand, because of the curse you have a hard time finding a new defense professor every year so I doubt you could find another in the middle of the year even if you were inclined to which I doubt you are.”

“So what do you propose then my boy?” asked Dumbledore.

“It is rather simple headmaster. We start a club to supplement the learning in defense against the dark arts. Because it would not be a class then it should not be affected by the curse. That way the same teachers could teach it every year and make sure that no matter how good or bad the current defense professor is then all the students would learn what they needed to learn. Well, all the students who want to learn anyway. Because it is a club it could not be mandatory, but that is one of the few drawbacks that I see”

“If we were to start such a club then where would we hold such a thing? Also who would teach it?” asked Professor McGonagall after a few minutes of pondering.

 

Harry was glad that they did not dismiss him outright. He also already had a solution to her questions.

“I have already thought of that professor. That is why I asked to see you three. I know that you are all very busy but I thought that you three would be best for the job. As I said Quirrel is not the best defense professor so I don't think he would be much help. The other professors are probably alright with defense and dueling and such, but when I thought about defense I though of you three.

Professor Flitwick was a dueling champion in his younger days, or so I have heard several upper years say. I have read several books on transfiguration, and some of them have mention uses of it in dueling and I think that that would be brilliant to learn. Who better to teach it than our resident Transfiguration mistress. And Professor Snape would make an excellent Defense professor, and would be if he wasn't needed for potions and if Professor Dumbledore didn't want to lose him to the curse.”

“You seem rather well informed about the goings on in the castle.”said Dumbledore while eying him a bit suspiciously.

“Well sir, I am only a first-year, but a rather observant first-year. Not mention that I have ears sir. Some days as I sit in the library I over hear what the older years say.” he said trying to look bashful as if ashamed at admitting to ease-dropping. “They seem to think that just because I am a first-year I wouldn't  hear or understand what they are saying.”

Dumbledore looked satisfied with that answer.

“I have also thought of where to have this club. I know that not everyone will come, but I am sure hat with the state of of Defense in recent years that many will come. If you are willing to follow me I will show you.”

He then led them up to the seventh floor. As they went, the professors got more and more confused. As he paced, they grew even more so. When the door appeared, they gasped.

“Welcome to the room of requirement also known as the come and go room.” said Harry.

After he got done explaining it, he then weaved a story about getting lost one day and needing a toilet and how it had appeared. When he had mentioned it to the house elves, they had explained it to him. The professors bought the story.

After a few minutes of deliberation, the professors told Harry that his suggestion was an excellent one and they would arrange the final details of it and hopefully they would be able to begin the club the next term.

 

Harry thanked them for their time and they went their separate ways. Harry was excited. It was another thing to check off of his list.


	15. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gryffindor vs. Slytherin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading!

After that day Harry could not help but feel excited. He was looking forward to next term when the Defense Association would begin. He was a little sad that he would not be running it as he had the first time around, but that thought did not dampen his excitement that much.

 

After that day, teachers looked at him a little weirdly. It was to be expected. What first year had ever found the room of requirement before and made such a good suggestion to a teacher? Few if any, Harry guessed. Nonetheless he went on as per usual.

 

The main change that happened after that didn't even come from his showing the room of requirement to the teachers. This was Ron's attitude. It become slightly better towards Harry, Neville, and Hermione. Oh, he was still the same immature boy, but he didn't go out of his way to insult them anymore. Harry wouldn't say they were on in completely friendly terms necessarily, but they were no longer on hostile terms either.

 

The day after the whole room of requirement thing, Harry also received his first letter from Ginny. She seemed hesitant, which was to be expected, but Harry knew he could help her to come out of her shell more and help her relax. He quickly wrote back, making sure to ask her questions about herself.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was not long before the first Quidditch match of the year came around. That morning Harry woke up, and it took him a moment figure out why he felt so weird. Then he remembered, today would be the first Quidditch match since his fifth year that Gryffindor would be playing, but he would not be, that he would be attending.

It was surreal to him. To think that this Quidditch match would be different from the first time it happened. He would not be flying, therefore Quirrel would not curse his broom, and he would not end up almost choking on the snitch. He wondered how the match would play out without him playing seeker. Well, the only way to find out would be to get up from his bed, and go see.

He walked down to the Quidditch pitch with Neville and Hermione. He, like three quarters of the school, was wearing Gryffindor colors. After two months of wearing nothing but black and yellow, it was kind of comforting to be back in the familiar Gryffindor red and gold.

On the way to the pitch, they walked past a small group of Slytherins. Harry shouldn't have been surprised, but he was when one very familiar Slytherin turned and shouted, “Hey Potter! I thought you had some sense after turning that Weasley's friendship down but now I see you wearing Griffin dork colors?! HAH! They are going down!”

“Hello Draco.” Said Harry calmly. “It's good to see you. Looking forward to a good game? I certainly am. Being raised by muggles, I have never actually been to a Quidditch match before, and I am quite looking forward to it. I have heard it is an excellent game.

Yes, I'm supporting Gryffindor, but that is mainly because I'm good friends with Neville here. He's in Gryffindor you see. Though I hear that their seeker is just dreadful. That's a shame. I don't truly care who wins. I hear the Slytherin team is quite excellent. If they win then good for them. I am just here to watch a good match.” Finished Harry.

Draco looked stunned after that, clearly unexpected pronouncement. He clearly thought that just because Harry was wearing red and gold that he, like pretty much everybody else wearing red and gold, would like to see the Slytherins go down in the most spectacular manner that was possible. He did not expect Harry to just be wearing red and gold to support his friend, and truly not care who won.

The three friends left Draco standing there with his mouth hanging wide open, as if to catch flies. They walked quickly up into the rapidly filling stands, and found a seat in the Raven claw section near some roommates of Hermione. 

The game began just as it had in the previous timeline, with Madam Hooch coming out on the field to referee. Very soon the teams were announced with everyone the same except for some fourth year that Harry didn't know playing seeker.

Once again Madam Hooch started out with, “Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you,”. The Slytherins looked just as a huge and untrustworthy as they had the first time. They, in fact, looked even more brutish than before, but that might just be because Harry knew exactly how much like a troll Marcus Flint was. 

He remembered how many times he had acted first and thought later. This had in fact gotten him killed when he, as a Death Eater, led a raid into battle with some order members without Voldemort's approval. He had survived that battle, but many of the death eaters with him had not. So, Voldemort had killed him for disobeying him. Marcus was a little bit like a Gryffindor in that respect.

And with a loud blast of Madam Hooch's whistle, the game began. The Quaffle was taken once again by Angelina Johnson. Lee Jordan was commentating once again. How Harry had missed the way Lee commentated. His comments had always been so hilariously funny. 

It was a shame that he had died rather early in the war, when Voldemort had gotten tired of his comments over the radio and had then hunted him down personally to kill him, and kill him he had. What little was left of him had been found not far from George's movable radio tent. George had been devastated. First he had lost his brother, and then his good friend.

The match went almost as Harry remembered it going, with the Gryffindors scoring occasionally as the Slytherins were committing fouls. The only main difference was that this time, the Gryffindor seeker was crap. He did not look for the snitch at all. 

When he wasn't stopped in midair clearly following the game, if his cheers and boos were anything to go by, then he was shadowing the Slytherin seeker, Terrence Higgs around. Oliver tried to correct this by calling a time out and yelling at his seeker, but it didn't seem to be working. The seeker went back to exactly what he was doing before. Oliver was also clearly very angry about it.

About a half hour into the game, they heard a, “Budge up there, move along.”

It was Hagrid come to join them in watching the game as he had joined Ron and Hermione the first time.

 

“Been watchin' from me hut.” Said Hagrid, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, “But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd.”

They watched the game for a bit together. It was clearly going to be a very long game. Neither team's seekers were all that good, and the game couldn't end until one of them had caught the snitch. Maybe one of them would get lucky and it would just fly into their hand. ' Yeah right.' Thought Harry. It was then that he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

Harry asked to borrow Hagrid's binoculars. He focused them on the teacher's stand where he had seen the movement. Quirrel was waving his wand slightly and looking towards the Quidditch pitch, but what could he be doing? It's not like Harry was on the Quidditch pitch. He tried to read Quirrel's lips, a skill he had picked up out of necessity after he had been cursed from afar one too many times. 

Harry paled slightly. He would not dare, would he? It seemed he would. He was trying to use a complex spell to break the enchantment on the bludgers, and pull a Dobby on him. That was exceedingly dangerous, not to mention a very overt sort of an action. It was clear to Harry that Quirrel, and more importantly Voldemort, would do anything to get him.

There was no time to waste. He told Hermione, Neville, and Hagrid he had to use the bathroom, and left. He snuck behind the stands much as Hermione had done the first time around and came to Quirrel's robes. He muttered the same spell that Hermione had in order to catch his robes on fire, and catch on fire they did. However, it was just a bit too late.

The spell, that was impossible to see unless you were looking for it, shot off just as someone bumped into Quirrel, making the spell go wide and miss the bludgers, it did however hit a little golden ball that had up to that point been absent from the game. Said ball stopped its current path and turned towards the teacher's stand, under which Harry still crouched.

'Oh crap.' thought Harry. The golden snitch was not nearly so dangerous as the bludger that was true, but it could go exceedingly fast. If it were to impact him at the speeds that it usually went then it would hurt a lot. It might not break as many bones as a bludger, but it could possible break a few ribs or crack his arm or something like that.

Harry ran as fast as he could out from under the stands. He could hear the shouts of the people as the snitch veered underneath the teachers and out of site. He ran as fast as he could go until he left the stands and turned to face the snitch, opening his mouth as he did so to shout a spell.

He gagged as the snitch forced its way down his throat, chocking him. Without a second to lose, he silently cast an expelling charm and then an incedio to blow the snitch up. He spent a few minutes coughing, just trying to get his breath back. After a few minutes, he finally did. He then returned to the stands to see what was going on.

What he saw was a bit of chaos as everyone tried to figure out what had happened. Dumbledore had just finished talking to Quirrel, and was now on his way to talk to Madam Hooch. The game itself had been paused. The two teams were on the ground talking strategy.

After about twenty minutes, it was determined, and announced that somehow the snitch had been tampered with and had gone rogue. They had no idea where it had gone and so were just going release a new snitch.

The rest of the game was fairly uneventful though it took just as long as expected. In the end Gryffindor won, if only barely. They were down 220 to 80 in the Slytherin's favor when the snitch hit the Gryffindor seeker in the back of the head. He turned around just in time to catch it before it flew off.

The three friends and Hagrid left the stands quickly. Hagrid invited them down to his hut to talk about the game and have a cup of tea. They accepted. Neville wanted to spend time with his friends more than the rest of the Gryffindors anyway. Not to mention that he had heard that the parties in Gryffindor tower lasted a long time and so would probably still be going on when he got back there.

They settled in around Hagrid's table and he soon had the kettle on. They started talking about what had happened. Harry was silent.

“Harry why are you so quiet?” asked Hermione suspiciously.

Harry had known that he would have to come clean about what had just happened, he had just hoped that it would be later rather than sooner. Sometimes, he cursed Hermione and her observational skills.

“Well, you see I noticed that Quirrel was moving his wand towards the quidditch pitch, and I thought that suspicious, so I decided to check it out.” started Harry.

“You lied to us about where you were going!” shouted Hermione.

“Yes I did, and I am sorry Hermione, I just didn't want to seem stupid if I was wrong about something going on.”

Hermione seemed satisfied with that answer.

Harry continued, “Anyway, So I got there and he was muttering something under his breath, and it didn't sound like anything pleasant so I sort of um... set his robes on fire.” Harry said a bit sheepishly.

“You did what!” exploded Hermione. Neville and Hagrid both looked stunned as well.

“Well I had to stop him.” said Harry. “I know he is a teacher, but I don't trust him Hermione. If you wait until I finish telling you what happened then I will tell you why.” 

They accepted that for the moment and Harry went on to tell them about how the spell missed and hit the snitch and how he was forced to blow the snitch up.

At the end of the story, the others were still a bit stunned. Finally Hermione came out of it and asked him to explain why he didn't trust Quirrel.

“I know it sounds sort of silly, but my scar hurts around him Hermione, my curse scar that Voldemort left when he tried to kill me as a baby. It only hurts around Quirrel.” Harry explained.

“Now wait a momen'. Quirrel's a teacher. Why would he do somethin' like that?” Hagrid asked

Harry, during all his post Halloween activities, had forgotten to tell his friends what had happened between Quirrel and Snape. So now he told them his 'suspicions' about Quirrel trying to get past the three-headed dog on Halloween and how Snape had tried to stop him.”

“How do you know about Fluffy?” asked Hagrid

“Fluffy?” asked Hermione incredulously.

“Yeah-he's mine-bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year- I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-”

“Yes?” asked Harry pretending to not know what Hagrid was talking about.

“Now, don't ask me anymore,” said Hagrid gruffly. “That's top secret, that is. Forget about Fluffy and what he's guarding. That's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel-”

“Aha! So a Nicolas Flamel is involved in this too!” said Hermione.

Hagrid looked furious with himself and refused to say anymore.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three friends returned to their separate common rooms. Harry was not unhappy with how the day had gone, though he should have really seen that thing with Quirrel coming. It was not like Voldemort to do nothing after all.

The best part of the day was when they got Hagrid to mention Nicolas Flamel. Hopefully, Hermione would figure it out sooner rather than later. Harry would try to help her along, but he would stick with his plan to let Neville and Hermione figure it out. He just hoped that she wouldn't force him to do research like last time. Oh well. If she did, then he would just point her towards the correct book, and be done with it.


	16. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> December through Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading! from * to * is a flashback/nightmare.

The days following the quidditch match went much the same as they had the first time around for Harry and company. The weather soon turned exceedingly cold, and by mid December, there was several feet of snow covering all of Hogwarts.

 

The Weasley twins also once again took the snow as an indication that Quirrel's turban needed enchanted snowballs hitting it. They once again got into trouble, and didn't really care. Meanwhile Harry thought it was hilarious. If only he could see the look on Moldy Short's face as it was hit time and time again with the snowballs.

 

As Harry rolled upon the ground in laughter, unable to stop, his friends were wondering what was so funny. He couldn't tell them of course, so he just said that he thought the Weasley twins were hilarious. They obviously didn't quite believe him, but let it go.

During this time, most of the castle became cold, and nobody dawdled in the hallways which were the coldest parts of the castle. Harry, Neville, and Hermione spent most of their days in the warm, cozy library. While there they mainly studied,but they looked for information on a certain someone as well.

Yes Hermione was driving them a bit bonkers with her single or rather in this case dual minded determination to find the info that they wanted. Their main purpose was to study for the end of term exams. 

Hermione had made up study schedules and they were all following them rather diligently. Harry knew that it wouldn't do to irritate Hermione while she was so stressed out over exams. Also, all of them studying together meant that Neville was doing much better in his classes, and Harry felt that he would do much better in exams this time around.

The other thing that they were researching was of course the illusive Nicholas Flamel. They spent whatever time they could, which was admittedly little, perusing the table of contents in books for any mention of the man.

Harry was still quite silent about the subject, and so they made no headway. It was frustrating Hermione. Neville too was beginning to get frustrated. Harry hated seeing them like this and decided that if they didn't figure out who he was by the time they had the last time, then he would point Hermione towards the correct book.

That settled, the rest of the days till the holidays passed quickly. The exams came and went, and they all did well even in potions though not as good as they should have due to Snape still being biased against Gryffindors. 

Harry could tell as soon as Malfoy heard about how well Hermione had done. His face turned red and he glared in their direction. Harry just smiled and waved. He would leave well enough alone till the end of the year. After all, Hermione might have just been lucky, or at least that is what Malfoy might say. He would give Draco time to get used to the idea that maybe just maybe Hermione was smarter than him.

They also once again ran into Hagrid as he was bringing Christmas trees up to the great hall. They went along with him. The great hall was just as magical as Harry remembered it from his first Christmas at Hogwarts.

With permission from Professor McGonagall, they spent the rest of the day in the great hall helping with the trees. Harry and Neville had both wanted a break from the library and all it took was being told that she would learn some new spells to convince Hermione to stay. She wasn't in Ravenclaw for no reason after all.

So they passed the rest of a pleasant day in the great hall helping the teachers with the Christmas decorations. They learned the spell to transfigure things into Christmas baubles which they were able to pick up rather quickly to McGonagall's surprise and delight. They also had the elves bring up some popcorn and they strung some together by hand. By the time they were finished, the great hall looked grand. All and all, it was a splendid afternoon.

Harry once again signed up to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays, and Hermione and Neville did not. They felt rather bad about it, but Harry convinced them that he would be alright. The Weasleys would be there after all, and now that they and Ron were on friendly terms he wouldn't be all alone on Christmas. This was important because no one should be alone on Christmas.

So the day that the Hogwarts Express left for London and King's Cross station, the three friends said their goodbyes rather reluctantly. Harry waved to them even as the thestral drawn carriages went around a bend and out of sight. Harry sighed. He would miss them.

Harry had gotten so used to having his friends around once again. He feared he would have nightmares now that they were not around even if it was only for a few weeks. His fears were confirmed that very night.

“Harry we have got to go!” shouted a barely twenty four year Hermione Granger at a twenty three year old Harry Potter. “We must! Can't you see that?!”

“Hermione. Calm down.” said Harry.

“Calm down. Calm down! You want me to calm down when there are people out there right now dying by the thousands! This could be our chance Harry. There might be something there to help us. We are running out of time! If we don't find something soon then we will all be joining Ron...” and here she broke off sobbing.

A twenty three year old Neville Longbottom went to comfort here. They were all very much scarred both physically and emotionally. The loss of her boyfriend Ron had hit Hermione especially hard, and she was still hurting especially because it was only four months after Ron's death.

 

Harry sat in what was known as his war room in a cave not far from where Hogsmeade had once stood, it was in fact the same one that Sirius had once stayed in, which felt like forever ago. Hermione did have a point. Voldemort was only getting stronger everyday, and if there was something in the library that could help them, then they needed to find it now before any more people died. Harry came to his decision.

“Fine.” he said.

“What?” said Hermione still crying.

“I said fine. You are right. We need any advantage that we can get. Therefore, you can go but you won't be going alone.” stated Harry.

“Oh thank you Harry!” exclaimed Hermione.

“Neville will go with you. Unfortunately we cannot spare anyone else.” Harry continued. “You will get in and get out as quickly as possible you understand.”

“Yes Harry.” Both said. “We will be back before you realize we have left.” Hermione said.

They packed up and were soon on their way.

Twenty four hours later they still had not returned and Harry was worried. They should have been back hours ago. He decided that he had to check it out for himself.

He left his second of command in charge of the place, and then disillusioned himself. He then apparated a few blocks away from where the library stood or had once stood as he soon found out. As soon as he arrived, he heard a boom and saw smoke from the direction of the library.

He hurried there as fast as he could. As he arrived his heart crumbled. The building had collapsed and there was smoke filling the air. He quickly cast a bubble head charm and walked closer to the ruins. Just a few minutes later the smoke cleared and Harry's heart sunk once again.

There above what was left of the building was the dark mark floating in the air with its snake disappearing into the skull and coming back out again. Harry wanted nothing more to shout for his friends, but knew that death eaters might still be around, so he didn't.

Harry cast a spell to detect human presences, and found that there were none. While he was glad that there were no death eaters in the area, the results also meant that either Hermione and Neville were captured and taken away or that they were dead. Harry did not know which was worse.

He set upon the task of removing rubble to see if he could find what was left of his friends. It was just as the sun was setting that he found them, and he starting crying silently. They were indeed dead, and had fought very hard if the fifteen or so dead death eaters around them was any indication. He cried and cried for them.

And with that eleven year old Harry Potter woke up. He was crying just as vigorously as he had then. It took him a few minutes to remember where he was at. He was quite shaken. With the death of those two, his last close friends were gone. 

He hadn't been the same since. He had fought even harder in their memories, but there was always a sadness that had hung about him. That had been the last time that he had cried in the previous timeline. 

Harry knew that he would never be able to get back to sleep and so he very carefully made his way to the kitchens. He could have called for a house elf he knew, but he needed a walk to clear his head. After avoiding both Filch and Professor McGonagall, who were both patrolling near the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room, his head certainly was a bit clearer and he was soon tickling the pear to get into the kitchen.

Who he found shocked him a bit. As he entered, Professor Snape looked up from where he was sitting with a cup of tea. Their eyes met briefly.

“Potter.” Said Professor Snape. “What are you doing out of bed?”

“I just wanted a cup of hot chocolate professor.” explained Harry. “I just woke up from a nightmare, and I needed something to calm my nerves.”

“And you came here instead of the hospital wing why exactly?” asked the professor.

“Well.” said Harry hesitantly, “I didn't want to bother Madam Pomfrey sir.” said Harry. In actuality, Harry did not go to the hospital wing because he had had nightmares before and knew that calming draughts did not help him. He also did not feel like explaining as he was having to do now.

“Even so Mr. Potter, that is what Madam Pomfrey is there for. You should not feel bad about bothering her.” said Snape.

“Yes sir. I will keep that in mind.” replied Harry. The elves then came and brought him his requested mug of hot chocolate.

 

Curious Snape asked, “Do you have nightmares often Mr. Potter?”

“On occasion sir. Though none recently.” replied Harry truthfully.

“I see. Well just remember what I said about Madam Pomfrey the next time you have a nightmare Mr. Potter.” said the professor.

“Yes sir.” said Harry finishing his drink.

“Now Mr. Potter you will come with me and I will give you a calming draught.” said Snape.

Seeing from his continence that he would bare no arguments, Harry followed the professor to his office where he was given a vial of calming draught. Harry took the potion as the professor looked on. Harry then said good night to the professor and was turning to leave when he had an idea. Turning to the professor, he asked if it was OK if he got him a Christmas present.

Looking shocked all the while, he asked Harry if he was sure. Harry was, and so Professor Snape said that that was fine if he wanted too. Harry left with a smile on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Christmas morning soon arrived. Harry was all alone in his dorm as everyone else from Hufflepuff had gone home. Harry didn't mind though. He was able to sleep in a bit, even on Christmas.

When he awoke, it was a bit shocking to see Christmas presents on the end of his bed. He had expected it but still. He had only been in this timeline for about five months and that things like Christmas were still celebrated still shocked him. He hadn't been able to celebrate Christmas since his sixth year.

He got the same flute from Hagrid, but that was one of only two presents that were the same. Instead of candy, Hermione had sent him a book about defense and he also got a book about plants from Neville. Harry was a little disappointed that he had gotten nothing from Mrs. Weasley, but that was to be expected seeing as he wasn't as close to Ron as he had been in the previous timeline.

The final gift was of course his father's invisibility cloak from Dumbledore with the same note enclosed. Harry packed the cloak carefully away. He didn't need to use it anymore seeing as he could make himself invisible just fine, but he was glad to have it anyway if only because it was his father's and a deathly hallow.

Supper came and was just as magnificent as Harry remembered. He enjoyed it immensely and seeing as he was the only Hufflepuff, he sat beside Ron at the Gryffindor table. He had fun pulling crackers and laughed when Dumbledore swapped his hat for a flowered bonnet once again.

He nodded to Snape when he looked at him. He had given Snape a copy of a very rare potions book that he had found in his parent's vault. He hoped that Snape had liked it. He was sure he did, even though he was giving him scrutinizing looks every so often. It was soon time for bed, and Harry escaped to his common room.

 

He was going to go to sleep when his mind drifted towards the mirror of Erised. Harry thought about it and decided that Dumbledore probably wanted him to go exploring which was why he had given Harry the cloak now instead of when he was older. He didn't want to get Dumbledore more suspicious, so he took the cloak to see the mirror of Erised.

 

It wasn't very hard to find the room, and once he did he rather reluctantly stepped in front of the mirror. In it he saw an older version of himself surrounded by his friends. It was obvious that Voldemort was defeated, and that they were happy.

 

Harry quickly left the room, and made his way back to the Hufflepuff common room. He vowed to never go back to the mirror, and to work as hard as he could to make what he saw in the mirror reality. He knew that he could only be able to if he worked for it. Nothing good would come from wasting away in front of the mirror, wishing for his dreams to come true. He was soon asleep.


	17. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> rest of Christmas vacation and the first week of the new term

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything that you recognize. Thanks for reading!

Harry spent the rest of the holidays either in the room of requirement or in the chamber of secrets with Viride. He was enjoying himself immensely. It was very rare that the castle was all but empty, and it was kind of nice to go places like the library and have there be no people to stare at his scar.

 

He only ate dinner in the Great Hall. Usually he got up early and went to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat for breakfast, and take a picnic basket to wherever he was going for the day so that he would not need to go to the Great Hall for lunch. He knew that he could have called a house elf, but he did not want them knowing about the chamber of secrets. He only showed up at the Great Hall for dinner because otherwise he knew people would come looking for him. 

The only real deviants to this routine were the two times he went to talk with Snape. He had indeed liked his gift. Of course he wondered where he had gotten it from, and asked him so. Harry told him the truth or at least most of the truth, that when he went to Gringotts it was within his vault.

Snape then asked him if he realized what exactly it was that he'd given him, and if he realized how valuable it was. Harry told him that he knew it was a very valuable potions text, but also that he knew that Snape would enjoy reading it far more than he would. That seemed to surprise Snape immensely, however he did not press any further.

Very soon it was the day that the students would be returning from the holidays. Harry spent the day in the room of requirement. He had made some headway since the beginning of the school year, but there was still tons of piles to go through. He was always finding more things that would be useful. For instance, just that day he had found a very rare book on Occlumency. 

Most books on Occlumency were highly restricted. They were about a branch of the mind arts after all, and the Ministry did not want these books getting in to the hands of people who would use them for evil things. Of course being the Ministry they did not bother to think of the fact that most of the older families would already have books on the mind arts in their collections at their manors.

Harry had been spending so much time in the room of requirement that he quite lost track of it. Before he knew it, it was the time that the students would already be entering the Great Hall, and if he did not leave immediately then he would be late. He was just rushing out of the room when he ran into someone quite literally.

Both of them ended up on the ground. He shook his head briefly to clear it and then looked at who would be running through the halls when everybody should be in the Great Hall or entering it. Surprisingly, it was Hermione with Neville standing looking quite amused staring down at them both.

Harry quickly stood, and helped Hermione up as well. It was not long before Hermione's curiosity kicked in.

“Harry! What are you doing here?” Asked Hermione.

“I could ask you the same thing Hermione.” Said Harry calmly.

“Yes well, we just got back and I just had to go to my dorm to get a book that I wanted to look over during the feast.” Said Hermione as if it was rather obvious what she had been doing.

Harry smiled. “So Harry I ask again, what are you doing up on the seventh floor that is floors away from your common room, when you should already be at the feast?” Asked Hermione once again.

“Well,” began Harry. He really did not know what is right to say to them. He was not planning on showing them what exactly he had been doing, it would not do for Snape or Dumbledore to read their minds and find out after all. However, in this case the fallout should not be too bad if that were to happen. Also, it was highly unlikely that Dumbledore or Snape would find reason to look into their minds. Not to mention that Harry was dying to show them all the things he had found, but right then was not the time. They had a feast to get to.

“Now is not the time Hermione.” Said Harry. She began to protest, but he continued “We have a feast to get to. I will show you later.”

Hermione looked rather dejected, but followed Harry down to the Great Hall anyway. Thankfully they got there as the last of the students were walking in, so they wouldn't stand out. They had already decided that they should sit at their own tables for once, it was technically a feast after all. Harry found it rather weird to be sitting alone at the Hufflepuff table.

At the end of the feast, Dumbledore stood up to make some announcements, “Welcome back everyone. I hope you enjoyed your holidays. Now for an announcement. Before the end of last term, a suggestion was made to Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape and I about a new club.

This club will be called the Defense Association. As you might infer, it is a club to do with defense. This person wanted to get more practice outside of the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom. I will not mention who this person is, but I thought their suggestion was a good one.

So from now on, every other Sunday for the two hours following lunch the Defense Association will take place. As we are sure that many of you will want to join the club, or at the very least see what the club is about we have decided to open up a new room to have it take place in. 

If you are interested in joining this club or at the very least seeing what is it is all about, the first meeting will take place this Sunday on the seventh floor in the room across from the tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy. That is all. Now off to bed you trot.” said Dumbledore with a smile.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The next day was the beginning of that term's classes. In Harry's memory it would also be known as the day Hermione tried to stare him into submission. The whole day, she bugged him about what he had been doing. She did not stop until he promised to show them before dinner that night. She still stared at him all day though.

Right after their last class of the day they quickly dropped their bags off in their respective dorms. They then just as quickly went to the area across from Barnabas the barmy. Hermione looked at him funny as he paced back and forth. Then her eyes widened as she took in the door that appeared that she could of sworn hadn't been there before.

Harry entered the room with the other two following. They stare wide-eyed around the room.

“ Welcome to the Room of Requirement, also know as the come and go room. This is where I have been. I am sorry for not telling you before. I don't quite know why I didn't tell you before.” Harry lied. “I guess I just wanted a secret for myself you know.”

“Wait. This is the place that Dumbledore said that the meeting for the Defense Association would take place.” Said Hermione. “Then means that you were the one that made this suggestion. How could the club be held in here though? This place is a mess. There is not nearly enough room in here for students to practice defense in.”

Indeed it was still a mess though less so than it had been at the beginning of the year. “Well this is not the exact room that the Defense Association would take place in.” They just looked at him weird.

He went on to explain, “ I found this place while I was exploring one day. I figured out that as you pace out in front of the entrance three times thinking about what you want the room to become, the room transforms into what you were thinking of. So if I were to request that this room were to turn into a room perfect for a lot of students to practice defense then it would do so.”

“But you were the ones to bring this to the teacher's attention?” Hermione asked.

“Yes, Hermione. I am tired of learning almost nothing in defense. I came here to learn not to listen to an incompetent teacher stutter.” Hermione looked indignant at such a statement that abused a teacher, but in the end she agreed with him.

“So what have you been doing in here?” asked Neville.

Harry then explained how he had been going through and separating the items into some of the piles that they saw before them. He then showed them some of the useful things that he had found. They then spent the rest of the time until dinner looking through the various items both that Harry had gone through and some that he hadn't.

In the end, he had to lend Hermione his bag that was bigger on the inside than the outside in order to carry all the books that she had found that she had wanted. It was three very happy, but tired people that made their way to supper. They spent the rest of the evening in the library working on homework.

~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the week went by much as the previous term had. The exception to this was that they went back to the Room of Requirement together on Saturday. Before Harry knew it Sunday had arrived.

All through breakfast and lunch all anyone could be heard talking about was the new club. It seemed that pretty much the entire school would be showing up. About halfway through lunch Professor McGonagall caught his eye and motioned him into the hallway. After telling his friends where he was going, he followed her out.

“What is it Professor?” asked Harry as he followed her up the stairs.

“Well, Mr. Potter, the other professors and I realized this morning while we determined who would be teaching what and when that we neglected something rather important?” said the professor.

After Harry looked genuinely confused, she explained, “We forgot to ask you how exactly you opened the room and as such we were in a bit of a bind, until we decided that I would just leave early with you to open the room and then you can explain how you did so.”

“Of course Professor. I would be happy to show you.” said Harry.

They soon arrived and Harry explained how to open it, and then he demonstrated. When they walked through the door, they found a room very similar to the one that Harry had showed the Professors the previous term when he had first suggested the club.

The room was very similar to the one the DA had used in the previous timeline in that the back was covered in mirrors, it was however quite different as well. There was an area off to one side that was filled with bookcases overflowing with numerous books. Along one wall there were dummies that could be used to practice spells on. The floors were lightly padded.

The main difference between this room and the one that the DA had previously used was its sheer size. The room that they were currently in was easily ten times the size of the original, perhaps more. It did after all need to be big enough to hold most of the school comfortably.

Just a few minutes later, Hermione and Neville along with several other students walked through the door. It seemed that whatever they had been expecting was not this. They were standing there so long that students behind them ran into them as they were coming in.

This process went on for the next half an hour or so. The rest of the professors were the last to arrive. It was rather amusing to Harry to see the gobsmacked look on their faces, especially Professor Snape's.

A few minutes later Professor McGonagall walked to the front, and all at once the murmuring, though not the fidgeting, that had been going on ceased.

“Welcome to the Defense Association also known as the DA.” began the professor. “I know that you are quite eager to begin practicing some defense, but please bare with me as I explain the rules and give an introduction.

As you all heard Professor Dumbledore say, this club is about supplementing your regular defense classes with extra practice. We are going to begin with some simple spells and work our way up to harder ones so upper years please be aware that we will in all likelihood be going over things that you already know. However, everyone could use more practice.

Myself as well as professors Snape and Flitwick will be taking turns overseeing this club. So, if you have any questions or suggestions feel free to come to one of us with them. We will take all suggestions into considerations.

Now the rules are simple. First, all school rules apply. Secondly, anyone we feel who is horsing around and not taking this seriously can and will be kicked out. Defense is a very serious subject, and we do not need nor want to have to send anyone to visit Madam Pomfrey. You will give whoever is teaching your undivided attention, and do as they say.

Other than those that may be kicked out, you can come or not come to meetings as you chose. However, be aware that you may not understand what is going on if you miss a meeting. I believe that is all, so let's begin.”

Professor McGonagall began by explaining Expelliarmus, the incantation, wand movements, and what it is used for. Some of the upper years did look disappointed, and some of the younger years as well. It was quite obvious to Harry that they were hoping and expecting something more exciting to be taught.

 

Harry, however, approved. He know that due to the curse, their learning was rather fragmented, and that some of the upper years might even have trouble with that simple spell. This was soon found to be true as they were told to separate into pairs and practice.

 

Hermione and Neville paired up while Harry paired up with Terry Boot from Ravenclaw. By the end of the lesson, most people had the charm down, this included Hermione, Neville, and Terry. As they left the room, Harry was in a good mood. It seemed, if the excited talk around him was anything to go by, that the club was a success. He couldn't wait to see where it would go from there.


	18. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mid January till mid April

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading!

The next few weeks went much the same way as the first week of term in that everyone was getting used to being in classes and having homework to do daily again. The three friends were much the same. They split their time between doing their homework as well as studying and researching in the library and sorting out the items that were in the room of requirement. They found themselves enjoying their time spent there quite a bit, especially Hermione.

 

With each new discovery, Hermione got even more enthusiastic about going back and finding more new treasures though not at the expense of homework of course. When done with anything else that needed to be done, and when they weren't in the room itself, she could often be found reading a book that they had recently found while there. Harry and Neville both found books from there to read from as well.

 

Harry was mainly researching the duplicating spell that Voldemort had used against him in the future to his great success and Harry's demise. Harry could think of numerous ways to use it if only he could find it. He was having absolutely no luck in the matter. He was determined to find it though.

Harry had even less time than the other two, because he had a certain snake to visit. He often spent time in the late evenings in the chamber with Viride. They had become good friends, and he enjoyed talking with her. 

She had great insights into Voldemort's mind, though sadly she did not know where he had gotten the duplication spell as he had found it after he had known her. Harry often returned to his dorm after their conversations feeling a bit more relaxed if a bit more frustrated at the same time. He really wanted to find that spell.

Harry also spent some evenings with Professor Snape. He never seemed to run out of stories to tell him about his mother. Harry found that he really enjoyed those evenings spent in Snape's office, and he had a feeling that Snape did as well, even if he would never let anyone know.

He also made a late night trip up to the room of requirement in order to hide the vanishing cabinet. During one trip, Hermione had made a comment about it, and Harry would rather not tell his friends about it just yet. He thought that he might tell them someday, but for now it was better that it be kept secret, as he didn't want anyone to read their minds and find out that he had the vanishing cabinet and start to ponder as to the reason why it was in his possession.

The trio had also gone to the second DA lesson of the year, it was much the same as the first, except that halfway though the lesson, they moved on to stunning charms. The other main difference between this meeting of the DA and the last was that Harry and Neville paired up while Hermione ended up paired with Ron Weasley.

It rather surprised Harry when Ron was able to keep his mouth shut throughout the whole lesson. Harry did notice him glaring a bit at Hermione afterward. This might have been due to the fact that she was able to stun him twice while he never came close to even sending a stunning spell at her. It was certainly a little better than how he could be so Harry was not too bothered.

Before the three friends knew it, it was Saturday the first of February and the three first years were tired. They had just gotten back from a long day of sorting things in the room of requirement, and they were very tired. They decided to go out by the lake and relax for a while before dinner, even though it was still rather cold out.

They were sitting there for a few minutes when Neville took a chocolate frog out of his pocket and proceeded to eat it. As soon as Hermione noticed it she got irritated and proceeded to tell Neville off.

“Really Neville. We are about to go to dinner. If you continue to eat sweets then you will not eat any dinner, for you will not be hungry. Besides too many sweets will rot your teeth which is not a good thing at all.” Hermione said rather loudly.

“I'm sorry Hermione.” said Neville after he had swallowed his bite of chocolate and was done looking sheepish. “I just felt like some chocolate and wasn't really thinking about how we would soon be going to dinner. I will be more careful in the future, and besides wizards don't get rotten teeth.”

After catching the confused look on Hermione's face, Neville went on to explain, “We have charms for that.”

At that he looked down at his lap to where he had lain he chocolate frog card from the package and gasped. The other two quickly came over to see what was the matter. Then Hermione also gasped and Harry pretended to look surprised.

The chocolate frog card that Neville had gotten was Albus Dumbledore's, but that wasn't what had surprised two out of the three students. What surprised them was the mention of Nicholas Flamel.

“To the library!” shouted Hermione.

The other two gathered their things and followed quickly so as to not lose their friend. Five minutes later they hurried into their usual secluded corner of the library just as Hermione came back with a huge tome.

“Why didn't I remember him before. Of course we couldn't find him in the books we were looking for; We were thinking that his achievements had to have been recent. After all he is the only six hundred and something year old man alive. Why would we think to look back so far. I, however, read a bit about him in this book that I had checked out ages ago.

It says here that he worked with Dumbledore to discover the twelve uses of dragon's blood. That is what he has been working on in most recent years. However, he is most famous for creating the world's only philosopher's stone.” Hermione said.

“What's a philosopher's stone Hermione.” asked Neville.

“A philosopher’s stone is a creation of an obscure branch of magic called alchemy. It can turn lead into gold, but that is not the most valuable aspect of it neither is it why Quirrel would want it. One of its most interesting features, and the reason why the Flamels are still alive today, is that as long as someone drinks the elixir of life that it produces, then they will live forever.” explained Hermione.

“Wow.” said Neville after getting over his shock.

“Indeed, and we can't let him get it.” said Hermione.

“Agreed. We will have to keep an eye on the third flood corridor whenever we can to make sure that Fluffy is still there and that the stone is still safe.” Harry said.

The other two quickly agreed and they went back to their lives with the addition of keeping an eye on the third floor where Fluffy was to make sure that he was still there, whenever they could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

Very soon it was the day of the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff match. It was once again weird for Harry to not be playing. He felt it even weirder that he would be cheering for Hufflepuff in this match instead of Gryffindor. He would just have to get used to it. After all, it wasn't like the sorting hat would suddenly change its mind and put him in Gryffindor again.

Shaking his head, he got up and went down to meet Hermione and Neville at the Ravenclaw table for lunch. They had figured that it was better that they sit at a table that was neutral for this match rather than either the Hufflepuff or Gryffindor tables in order to avoid the other students ire for 'sitting with the enemy.' It was a good idea; Too bad it didn't work.

Students from both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were glaring at them like they had betrayed them. Ron was glaring especially hard. The Slytherins just seemed amused, and the Ravenclaws didn't seem to care. That was alright with Harry. They could glare all they wanted; The trio would not change their minds about sitting together.

They made their way to the stands and decided to sit together once again in the Ravenclaw section. Ravenclaw house was split about half and half about who they wanted to win. Though slightly more wanted Gryffindor to win just so that Slytherin would be even further behind them and therefore less likely to win the quidditch cup and also the house cup.

Harry once again got a bit of a shock when Madam Hooch came out to referee. He looked to the teacher's stands and spotted Snape beside Quirrel, who didn't look to happy about it. Logically Harry knew that Snape would have no reason to referee this match as Harry wasn't playing, but part of him was still expecting it.

In this case it made sense to have Snape sit right beside Quirrel to make sure that he didn't do anything drastic like he had during the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match. Snape obviously figured that Quirrel had had something to do with the missing snitch, though he couldn't know exactly what had happened. Harry wasn't likely to tell him either. Though he supposed that he could have found out what had happened from reading either Hermione or Neville's minds. It was unlikely though.

Thinking about that made him think about all of the wild stories that he had heard after that particular quidditch match. One person had said that they were sure that it thought it was an actual snidget and was looking for other snidgets. Another person thought that someone had stolen it and was planning to release it in the great hall during dinner as a prank.

The wildest tale of the bunch though was from a second year. They spun a wild tale about how it had gained intelligence and was planning on coming back to Hogwarts to teach History of Magic. However, instead of goblin rebellions, it would focus on the history of Quidditch. Harry had to laugh at that one though he did think that a snitch would be a much better teacher than Professor Binns was.

He was brought back out of his thoughts when Lee started announcing the teams coming onto the field. Harry cheered along with everyone else. He cheered mostly for Hufflepuff, but wasn't adverse to Gryffindor either.

The game was a long one. The Gryffindor chasers were in top form as always as was Oliver Wood. The Hufflepuff chasers and keeper weren't bad either. It was the seekers that were the problems.

In later years Cedric Diggory would be a much better seeker, however at the moment he wasn't so great. He was only a third year after all and this was his first year on the team. He just needed more experience.

Where Cedric needed experience, the Gryffindor seeker just stunk, end of story. They were once again more focused on the game than looking for the snitch. This led to Gryffindor's downfall.

Cedric snatched the snitch right out from under the other seeker's nose two hours into the match. Hufflepuff won by 100 point as the score was Gryffindor 270 Hufflepuff 370. Much cheering went on. The three friends had enjoyed it a lot, and as such lingered not far from the entrance to the castle.

Therefore, when Snape excited following a Quirrel who clearly did not want to be followed, they saw them. They decided to follow. Harry took out his invisibility cloak and follow they did.

 

They followed as Snape and Quirrel stopped in a clearing not far into the forbidden forest. They saw Snape staring intimidatingly at Quirrel who appeared to be trembling. They were having a discussion very familiar to Harry.

“I I don't know why you wanted t t to meet me here of all p places Severus..”

“Oh, I thought we'd keep this private, Student's aren't supposed to know about the philosopher's Stone after all.” said Snape icily.

“W what S Severus I I don't..” Quirrel mumbled

“Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?”

“B b but Severus, I-”

“You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrel,” said Snape taking a menacing step forwards.

“I I don't know what you-”

“You know perfectly well what I mean. So you won't dare to try your little bit of hocus pocus. I'm waiting.”

“B but I d d don't-” 

“Very well. We'll have another little chat soon, when you have had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie.” 

And with that he strode out of the clearing with Quirrel not far behind him. Both of them just missed the trio as they stood still in shock, and still under the cloak.

Seeing as how it was close to curfew they reluctantly separated under the agreement that they would discuss what they heard in the morning. Harry was soon ensconced in a common room filled with happy Hufflepuffs. He stayed for a while to enjoy the party and then went to bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, the three friends gathered in the room of requirement, which provided them a copy of their favorite spot in the library. They decided to go there instead of the library because the room was much more private, and so they could talk freely without fear of being overheard.

They spent the entire morning discussing it. Harry had to spend time convincing them once again that Snape was not going after the stone, and that it was Quirrel.

“Look guys. Snape was obviously trying to figure out how much exactly Quirrel knows concerning what is guarding the stone.” Harry said.

“Then why was he threatening Professor Quirrel?” asked Neville.

“He wanted him to know that if he tried anything then he would stop him.” said Harry.

It took a few minutes more, but he eventually convinced them of the truth. Neville especially was a little skeptical, Then again, he was still rather afraid of Snape so that was sort of to be expected.. After all, it took years in the first timeline for Neville to stop fearing Snape. Harry would help him though, and hopefully, he would overcome it soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

March went rather quickly with nothing interesting happening. Hermione soon had them studying like mad for the end of the year exams even though they were weeks away. Harry let her as he knew it would make her happy and Neville especially needed the help. April went this way as well until one day they ran into a certain half-giant whilst in the library studying.


	19. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April through the exams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I don't own anything that you recognize.

“Hello Hagrid. What are are you doing here?” asked Hermione.

 

“Ah nothin. Just lookin for somethin for one of the professors. Youns aren't still lookin for Nicolas Flamel are ye?” asked Hagrid.

 

“Nah. We found him ages ago. All about him. Though we won't say what his accomplishments are. The walls have ears.” said Harry as he leaned in closer to Hagrid so that he could whisper and Hagrid could still hear him. “We were just studying. End of the year exams are coming up rather fast you know.

 

“Ah yah. Course. Studyin's important. Good for you lot. Well I best be goin. Things to do. People to see.” said Hagrid quickly.

The trio then said their goodbyes as Hagrid walked off rather quickly. Naturally this roused Hermione's curiosity and she went to see what section he was in. She came back moment later with several books.

“Dragons!” exclaimed Hermione. “He was looking up stuff on dragons. I wonder why? They are supposed to be illegal to own and breed aren't they?” she asked turning to Neville with curiosity brimming her eyes.

“Yes, Hermione. They are illegal. Supposed to be quite vicious too. Why is he looking stuff up about them?” Neville asked the same question Hermione had moments before.

It was clear to Harry that it truly did not cross their minds that Hagrid might actually have a dragon. They had only known him for about eight months after all, even if they had found out about Fluffy. Harry, however, knew better.

“Why don't we go down to see him later? Then we can ask him why he was looking up things on dragons.” suggested Harry.

The other two quickly agreed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, they arrived outside of Hagrid's door. They were surprised to see all the windows covered up and all the doors closed. On a lovely day such as that, you would think that Hagrid would be airing out his house, but he wasn't. It was confusing.

They knocked on the door, and heard Hagrid calling out, “Who is it?”.

“Harry, Hermione, and Neville. We came for a visit.” called out Harry.

Soon Hagrid was quickly opening the door and rushing them inside. He looked back and forth as if he was checking to make sure that they weren't followed, which is probably exactly what he was doing, thought Harry.

It was just as hot as Harry remembered, maybe even more so. Neville asked why that was, but Hagrid didn't answer. He made them tea and sandwiches, which they refused. They then proceeded to ask him questions, well Hermione did.

“Hagrid will you please tell us more about what is guarding the stone.”

“Youns know too much all ready. How you learned about Fluffy I really don' know. No. Its important that I tell no one what the defenses are, not that I know them meself anyway.”

“What! Dumbledore didn't tell you, one of his most trusted associates, what the defenses are? That is unbelievable.” Harry cried out all of a sudden.

Hagrid beamed with pride and said. “Nah, I don't know. I jus did me part.”

“Well, you must at least know who is else is as trusted as you as to be helping to guard the stone. Surely, it would do no harm to tell us that.” said Hermione, picking up on what Harry was doing.

“Well, I know and I 'pose it wouldn't hurt to tell youns. Let's see, he borrowed Fluffy from me, and some of the other teachers did enchantments, I don't know wha exactly. Professor Sprout- Professor Flitwick- Professor Quirrel- Professor Dumbledore did somethin of course- and Professor Snape.”

They looked at each other with a bit of despair when they heard Quirrel's name mentioned. Harry knew that the other two were thinking about how Quirrel could probably pretty easily find out what the other teachers protections were just by asking. They probably wouldn't suspect him of much of anything, given his stutter.

“You haven't told anyone besides us how to get past Fluffy right? Except Dumbledore?” asked Hermione.

“Course not. No one knows 'cept me an' Dumbledore.”

“Good.”

“Hagrid. Who were you looking up things about dragons for, and why don't you open a window? It is really hot in here.” asked Neville.

“Can't Neville, sorry.” said rather Hagrid strongly.

“Hagrid, what is that?!” exclaimed Hermione as she pointed towards the fireplace where they all now saw a large oval shaped thing resting in the fire, underneath the kettle. Harry had of course noticed as soon as they walked in, but had decided not to point it out to the other two.

“Where did you get it Hagrid?” asked Neville nervously.

“I won it. Down in the pub las' night. I was havin' some drinks an' a stranger came up to me and we got into a game o' cards. I won it from 'im. He seemed glad to be rid of it actually.” said Hagrid whilst pondering.

“But are you going to do with it when its hatched, Hagrid?” asked Hermione.

 

“I bin' doin' some readin' about it. Got some books from the library, showing them Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit, it's a bit outta date, of course, but its all here. Keep um in the fire, and when it hatches feed it brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. And see here are the different eggs. This here is a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare.”

Hagrid looked just as pleased as he had the first time, but everyone else did not. They tried to convince him to get rid of him, however they figured it was about hopeless. Just as they were about to give and leave, Harry brought his plan.

“Hagrid, I know you don't want to get rid of the dragon, but I think I have thought of a solution that will suit everyone.” said Harry.

Hagrid looked curious despite himself. “I heard Ron Weasley has an older brother who works on a dragon reserve. How about as soon as the dragon is ready, he comes and picks up the dragon and takes it to the reserve?” Harry suggested.

“Ah yes good old Charlie.” said Hagrid and yet still he looked reluctant.

“Hagrid, the dragon would be happier with its own kind.” Harry said.

“And you live in a wooden house, Hagrid. What happens when it starts breathing fire?” Hermione pointed out.

They spent another hour trying to convince Hagrid. Eventually they did. They then left and went back to their respective common rooms. That night Harry wrote a letter to Charlie Weasley:

Dear Mr. Weasley,  
My name is Harry Potter. I am a first year here at Hogwarts. I heard from your little brother Ron that you work on a dragon reserve in Romania, is that true? I am rather hoping it is. 

You see, my friends and I are in a bit of a delicate situation with Hagrid, the gamekeeper, you might remember him? Anyway, he has recently got his hands on a Norwegian Ridgeback egg. 

My friends and I know it is illegal to own and breed dragons and we were wondering if you would like to add this dragon to your reserve. 

Please don't tell anyone outside of your friends at the reserve. We don't want Hagrid to get into trouble you see. Please get back to me. 

My greatest thanks,  
Harry Potter

Harry just hoped that Charlie would come or send someone even though he wasn't good friends with Ron.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry got his answer the day that the egg was due to hatch.

Dear Mr. Potter,  
You were quite right to contact me. First off, call me Charlie. Mr. Weasley makes me think of my father. Secondly, don't worry, I remember how Hagrid is. I only told my friends here at the reserve of your predicament. 

They agreed to come by and pick up the dragon at the first opportunity which happens to be the ninth of May. They will meet you on top of the Astronomy tower at midnight. I hope this is agreeable.

Sincerely,  
Charlie Weasley.

Harry quickly wrote back saying that is was, and thanked him for helping them. And sure enough after he sent that note out, a note from Hagrid saying that the egg was hatching landed before them.

As they walked to Herbology, they discussed it. Harry thought he saw movement not far away, but when he glanced to where it was, he didn't see anyone. He brushed it off and kept walking.

Just as before, they walked down to Hagrid's hut during morning break. The dragon was almost out. There was cracks all throughout its shell. They all drew up chairs to watch. There was a scraping noise and the egg split open, with the baby coming out end over end to land in front of Hagrid.

She looked just as ugly to Harry as she had when he had first laid eyes on her.

“Isn't he beautiful?” He then tried to pet the dragon, but it tried to bite his fingers. Hagrid cooed at it.

“Bless him, he knows 'is mommy!” Hagrid exclaimed.

“Are you sure it's a he, Hagrid?” asked Harry.

“You're right, Harry. I don't know. I will have to look it up.” said Hagrid.

“Hagrid, how fast do these dragons grow exactly?” Hermione asked.

Hagrid was going to answer when the color drained from his face. He leapt to his feet and ran to the window.

“What's the matter?'

“Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains, it's a kid, she's running back up to the school.”

Harry ran to the door and just barely recognized Pansy Parkinson running up to the castle. Harry realized that it must have been she who had heard them discussing the dragon earlier, and had moved in the corner of his vision. Oh well. There wasn't much he could do about it now.

~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next couple weeks could not go by quick enough for the friends. It seemed that Pansy had decided not to say anything at least not yet. She did give them some devious smirks and bumped into Harry one day knocking his stuff in his bag all throughout the hall. 

She smirked and laughed and acted like she would help pick stuff up then threw the book she was holding back towards Harry. They just glared at her and helped Harry pick up his things. Luckily it was soon the ninth of May. 

That night they snuck down to Hagrid's house under the invisibility cloak. Fang was sitting outside the door with his tail bandaged. The three friends felt sorry for Hagrid. When they got there he was sobbing. He would truly miss the dragon he had named Norberta, when he found out that it was female.

He already had her packed in a crate along with her teddy bear that they could hear her tearing apart, and some brandy. They all said their goodbyes. They then left. They could hear Hagrid sobbing even through the closed door.

With the three of them, it was easier to carry her than it had been when it had just been Harry and Hermione, but it was still extremely heavy. When they were going around a corner, they stopped in their tracks and realized that it was a very good thing that they were invisible, for there was McGonagall holding Pansy Parkinson by the ear.

“Detention!” Yelled Professor McGonagall. “And Twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you!”

“You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter is coming with a dragon!” Pansy protested.

“What rubbish! How dare you lie! Come, I shall tell Professor Snape about your lies Miss Parkinson.”

And with that they walked off towards the dungeons with McGonagall still dragging Pansy by the ear. As soon as they were out of hearing range, the three friends starting laughing. After they calmed down, Hermione asked a valid question.

“How did Pansy know that we were getting rid of the dragon tonight?” They thought for a few moments until Harry came up with the answer.

“Oh course! She saw the note.” Harry exclaimed.

“You showed her the note, Harry?” asked Neville

“No, Neville. Do you two remember that day when she knocked my stuff all over the floor?” 

They both nodded still looking confused.

“Well, the note was in my bag and I haven't seen it since.”

Realization dawned on the other two's faces. There was nothing left to do but finish their trek up to the tower which they accomplished a few minutes later. About ten minutes after that Charlie's friends showed up and hooked up Norberta to a harness. Before they knew it, they were flying off.

Harry made sure to cover them all with the invisibility cloak, and they were soon safely ensconced in their dorms.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few weeks went by much the same, except Pansy's glares were even harsher than they had been previously. They also spent all their free time studying, though Harry did slip away on occasion to visit Viride.

Also they heard Quirrel one day sobbing, “No- No- not again, please-”

Harry knew it was Voldemort threatening him, but the other two thought it was Snape and he allowed them to think that.

“All right- all right-” Quirrel sobbed again.

They were quite happy to think that Snape had a victory over Quirrel though the other two were still confused as to exactly why Quirrel would go after the stone. They continued to study.

The day after Pansy's detention in the forbidden forest they heard her complaining to Malfoy about going after injured unicorns and how unfair it was. Malfoy didn't seem to care and that angered her even more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soon it was exam time. They were much the same as Harry remembered, though he was sure he did much better this time than he had done previously. As always with Hermione, they went over how they think they did afterward. Even Neville felt confident that he did alright. Harry was glad to see that Neville was growing more in confidence everyday. Before Harry realized that the days had passed so quickly, it was the day that Voldemort would go after the stone.


	20. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of exams thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait and short chapter. I hope to finish up first year in the next chapter which will hopefully be before the holidays and new year. Thanks for reading and I don't own anything that you recognize.

Harry did not understand how time had gone so fast. It had been weeks since he had even thought about the stone. This was mainly due to the fact that Quirrel did not go after the stone until the end of the year so Harry figured he had time to come up with a plan.

 

Well, his time had run out. It was the day to go after the stone and he did not quite know how he would go about the task itself. The first time he had gone after the stone, it had been a rather rash decision on his, Hermione, and Ron's parts, albeit one that had turned out well enough in the end.

Now, he did not quite know how he wanted to go after the stone. Well, he knew how to get past all of the obstacles from the first time he beat them, and they would be much easier to defeat now but he didn't know what to do concerning his friends. He didn't know whether to take them along or not.

On the one hand, they were great friends and he didn't want to go without them. When he, Ron, and Hermione had gone after the stone the first time, it had been a great bonding experience albeit one rife with much pain and terror. On the other hand he didn't want to put his friends in danger. They could have died. Also, he would have to hold back a lot of his knowledge if they went with him.

The final reason that they shouldn't go with him is that he did not want Dumbledore to find out what he was up to. He didn't entirely trust the headmaster, and would rather he not know that he was there if he could help it. He planned on finding a different way forcefully evict Voldemort from Quirrel's body. Also, he would rather the stone not be destroyed. It was not really fair that the Flamels died because Dumbledore would use their stone as bait for Voldemort.

No. That decided it. He would go alone and make sure that he would not get hurt. After all, he was much older and wiser than he had been the first time that he had gone after the stone. He would just have to make it up to Hermione and Neville later, even if they didn't know what he was making up for.

 

It seemed to him as if the night would last forever. Hermione insisted that they talk over their exams till just a few minutes before curfew in the library. Harry knew that she had gotten little if anything wrong, and tried to explain to her that she did fine, but as per usual with Hermione, she would not listen and insisted on going over every question that she could remember.

After an agonizing few hours Harry was finally able to slip back into his common room. There were luckily very few people up and about. He figured that most of them would be enjoying their sleep after a few weeks of grueling exams. Therefore, Harry just slipped into his dorm room and donned his invisibility cloak and slipped right back out. The few sleepy people in the common room did not even notice when the entrance to the common room opened up without anyone visibly coming or going.

After applying charms to muffle his feet and his smell he made his way quickly to the out of bounds third floor corridor. He made it there without any trouble. The only person, be they alive or dead, that he saw was Professor Flitwick who was obviously walking around on his rounds. He was easily avoided.

 

Now as Harry stood in front of the door leading into the forbidden corridor, part of him could not help but remember what it was like to stand there the first time. Then, he did not know that he was standing on the precipice on the cliff that was what remained of his innocence. That day was the beginning of the first of his yearly adventures that the first time led to his death and the destruction of the world as he knew it.

 

As he stood there in the place it began he vowed once again that he would not let the same thing happen again. He would not let his friends die. And with that thought he shook off the remainder of his past and that which would no longer be the future and walked through the door.


	21. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chambers of the Philosopher's Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything that you recognize. Thanks for reading! Edited 10 Jan 16

The first thing that he noticed was that Fluffy was asleep just like he had been the first time. Harry was not expecting any different. He knew that Quirrel would have gone through before he had.

So the only thing Harry needed to do was reinforce the spell on the harp. He did not want it to stop at an inopportune time as it had his first time through. So, he did just that and then moved the humungous paws off the door.

He spent a minute just staring into the abyss below that should contain devils snare. He took a deep breath to prepare himself, and got his plan ready in his mind. Then he jumped.

As soon as he landed he knew it was the same as last time. The ground beneath him was squishy and started to move. He rolled out of it before it could get a good grip on him. For a minute or so the devil's snare kept reaching for him as if it wanted to drag him back, but it soon gave up for Harry was already long gone.

The next room he entered was the room with the keys. Now this room was more difficult. Last time he had gone after the keys who then chased him around the room. Then as soon as he had caught the correct one he had given the key to Hermione who had unlocked the door as they continued to chase him.

The problem was that this time he was alone. One of the downsides that he had almost forgotten about when he had decided to go alone. So, this room could end up being the most difficult for him to get through.

No matter. He had to try. So try he did.

He got onto the broom and the keys started coming from all directions as if they wanted to skewer him like a shishkabob. Harry took off quickly to try to avoid them. He flew quickly around the room. It was hard to see the one he remembered that he needed when there were keys that kept getting in his face

He was quickly able to spot it and got it on the first try. How, he was not sure until he remembered the immunity bite from Viride. Of course. His senses had slowly been improving over the year. So they were a little better than they had been.

He flew towards the ground and jumped off several feet above the ground and ran towards the door. Harry then ran towards the aforementioned door as quickly as possible. Then he brutally shoved the key into the lock and twisted and pushed.

Harry got the door open just far enough to slip through and shut the door with a single key making it through after him. This key then proceeded to continue trying to put a hole in him or five until Harry tried a simple finite incantatem and it fell to the ground. Its charm undone by Harry who would have tried that in the first place if he didn't mind Dumbledore knowing he had been there.

As it was he didn't so he banished the key and proceeded to turn around to face Ron Weasleys greatest dream, and indeed it had been apart of his dreams after this day in the old timeline. It was a life size chess board.

Now Harry was no chess player. He hadn't been much of one at this point in the old timeline and had never really gotten too much better, it was just something that didn't interest him much. Not to mention that after Ron had died it had always been a reminder of the friend that he had lost.

However, he did have something that he didn't have the first time around, a little bit more common sense. What use was there in playing across the board and risking one's life when one could just levitate oneself across?

It had never been proven about whether or not one could use the levitation charm on oneself and Harry did not particularly feel like testing it at this precise moment in time, but he didn't have to.

He took a quill out of his pocket and transfigured it into a chair, and then sat down on the chair. Harry then carefully levitated the chair, with himself still sitting on it over to the opposite side of the board, and before anything could have he finited the chair and rushed through the door and almost backed upwards again.

This was the room that had held the troll that was no longer conscious. Now this held a problem for Harry. Oh he was glad that he didn't have to fight the troll, but it did pose a problem to his plan. He didn't want Dumbledore to know that anyone preferably had been there and he would certainly know that someone had been there if there was an unconscious troll in the chamber.

However, there wasn't anything that Harry could really do about it. When Dumbledore realized that the stone was missing, he was going to figure that someone had been there anyway. It mean Harry could have tried to make a fake copy of the stone, but he didn't know how. He might have the knowledge and memories of his older self, but that didn't mean that he knew everything. So, he might as well leave the troll and just make sure to mask any signs that his own presence had made.

So, he carefully stepped around the troll while holding his nose the entire way till he came to the opposite side of the room that had the door ensconced in it. Harry then opened it and proceeded through it.

Just as he passed the threshold, flames shot up behind him and on the other side of the room just as he remembered them doing the first time. He then noticed the table filled with bottle of all shapes colors and size along with a familiar piece of parchment that read:

Danger lied before you, while safety lies behind,  
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,  
One among us seven will let you move ahead,  
Another will transport the drinker back instead,  
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,  
Three of us are killer, waiting hidden in line.  
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,  
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:  
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide  
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;  
Second, different are those who stand at either end,  
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;  
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,  
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;  
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right  
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.

As Harry read this, he couldn't help but think that even though Snape was a git he was also a genius when it came to logic puzzles. This would fool most wizards. Though he still couldn't understand why he would leave a guide to get through this room in the first place. Voldemort was a genius in his own right. He probably figured out this room in a trice.

Now Harry was no genius but even he could now figure out logic puzzles even if when he couldn't when he was originally eleven. So, he spent a few minutes thinking. It took longer than it had Hermione but get it he did. The smallest bottle would take him forward whilst the one all the way to the right would take him back when it came time to go back through. As he stepped up to grab the bottle, he realized he need not have worried about accidentally drinking poison. He could tell which one's they were by smell. He quickly downed the needed potion, took a deep breath with his wand out stepped though the flames. 

Just as he remembered Quirrel was standing in front of the mirror. Harry gave him no time to react to his appearance. He sent a flame throwing curse at him. Quirrel tried to move but Harry curse was made to take out multiple enemies at once and both Quirrel and Voldemort had been taken by surprise.

Quirrel quickly went up in flames. Harry was surprised by his success and let his guard down for just a moment which gave the burning man the opportunity to through a killing curse in Harry's direction which missed him only because Harry saw it at the last moment and stumbled backwards, in the process tripping over the stairs. Harry rolled all the way to the bottom and looked up just in time to see Quirrel's ashes fall to the floor and the spirit of Voldemort rising through the ceiling.

Quickly before Dumbledore showed up, or at least as quickly as he could with bruises blooming over what felt like all of his body, Harry made his way towards the mirror. There he paused.

He was in a pickle. He didn't particularly want Dumbledore to know that anyone had been there but at the same time he wanted Flamel to be in possession of his stone. He wanted the Flamels to have a chance to decide whether to destroy it or not without Dumbledore's being in possession of the stone influencing their decision.

The question was whether they would make the same decision that they had last time even though they were in control of the stone this time. The answer was probably, but he couldn't be sure. Also, there was the fact that if Dumbledore was concentrating on who might have gotten the stone under his nose then he might pay less attention to what Harry was doing and where he was come the end of the year.

That decided it for him. Lucky for him, all his thoughts only took a few seconds and so a minute later he was disillusioning himself with the stone in his pocket and walking into the previous room. Just in time too because that was the moment that Dumbledore chose to come into the room and walk right past him.

Thankfully Dumbledore had deactivated all of the previous rooms so Harry only needed to transfigure another chair, disillusion it and levitate it and himself out of the hole. He quickly and silently made his way to the common room and to his dormitory. He then went into the bathroom to clean himself up.

He had several cuts on his face and hands which he healed with a quick healing charm, but the bruises would be more problematic. He figured that he would just have to cover them up and deal with them. It is not like he could go to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey would want an explanation. He couldn't tell her the truth, obviously, and even if he made up a convincing lie, Dumbledore would still be suspicious.

So, he just cleaned the blood up and changed into pajamas and climbed into bed, just in time to. For a prefect chose that moment to come in and inform everyone that they were wanted in the common room.  
One of Harry's roommates, Harry couldn't tell which asked why.

The prefect's answer was rather rude and filled with irritation, “How the heck am I supposed to know. They haven't even told us yet. Just go to the common room now.”

They didn't need to be told twice. They all got up out of bed with lots of grumbling and headed to the common room.

The first thing Harry noticed was that everybody, all the Hufflepuffs anyway were coming into the common room. The second thing he noticed was the Professor Sprout was at the front, and she looked like she had just been rousted out of bed like the rest of them were.

As soon as the prefects joined everyone else, Professor Sprout began talking.

“Now I really am sorry for having everyone get out of bed at this late hour, and I wouldn't have done so except the headmaster requested it of all four of us heads to do a head count of every student in our house to make sure that everyone was here.”

“But why professor?” Some older year asked

“Now all I can tell you is that the headmaster deemed it very important to make sure that everyone in the school was OK and in their common rooms. Now lets take role.”

And take role she did for the next half an hour. There was much complaining on everyone's part and by the end of it Professor Sprout didn't look too happy herself which was quite unusual for her. However at the end of the half hour, everyone was accounted for and she left to tell the headmaster so.

Despite everyone only getting a few hours sleep, they were now clearly wound up. So, pretty much everyone stayed in the common room to gossip about why they thought the headmaster would ask the professor to do such a thing. Harry stayed down as well, to avoid suspicion as to why he wouldn't want to talk about it. However, he was exhausted and soon drifted off to sleep.


	22. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The couple days after the stone attempt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything that you recognize. Thanks for reading!

Harry awoke the next morn still in the common room to the sounds of fellow students beginning to stir. He tried to get up but was unsuccessful at first. He felt really stiff and for a minute he couldn't remember why.

Then the day before came back to him. The bruises of course. He would need to heal them fast.

He hurried up to his room and quickly grabbed some clothes, and then went into the bathroom to change and freshen up. As he changed, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and stifled a gasp.

He looked awful. His eyes had dark circles under them, that showed his lack of proper sleep the night before. There were also several bruises that were creeping up his neck. His complexion was also pasty. This caused the bruises to stand out even more. All in all he looked like death warmed over.

This wasn't good at all. If he went to breakfast looking like this then he would surely be asked tons of questions by his fellow students. Worse, he would be asked questions by the teachers who would surely report it to Dumbledore. Therefore, he had to cover them up somehow.

The best thing to do would be to get some bruise paste to heal it, but for that he would need to go to the hospital wing which would alert Dumbledore. He could make some but he didn't have the time. Oh it was days like this that he wished he had put some more time into learning the more obscure healing spells. As it was he didn't know if there was one to heal bruises.

He would have to go with the second best thing and don a glamor. It wouldn't help with his stiffness or the bruises themselves, but at least noone would be able to see them and he know one that would help. He still didn't like it but it was the best solution he could come up with on such sort notice.

Harry did not care for glamors in general. They were in a branch of spells that drained a little of your magic for as long as they were up. So, they were not good to keep up for long term, especially during battle. They also were not good to use when one is tired like Harry was at that moment. He would just have to tell anyone who asked why he was tired that it was from being woken up in the middle of the night by Professor Sprout.

It wasn't long before he was heading down to breakfast with everyone else. It was very loud in the great hall. Conversations everywhere were about how they were woken up in the middle of the night. The rumor mill was running rampant. The stories ranged from Aragog and his army of spiders breaching the wards in the middle of the night and they wanted to make sure that none of them had gotten eaten, to Mrs. Norris leading a rampage composed of the student's cats through the hallways and they wanted to be sure that they hadn't run through the dormitories themselves.

Harry had to keep himself from laughing. The stories were all so ridiculously funny and far from the truth. You could always count on the rumor mill to entertain you when it wasn't you they were talking about anyway. That thought sobered Harry up as he thought back to all the times that he had been painted in a bad light.

He was once more broken out of his memories by Dumbledore who had stood up to talk. The student body, upon seeing this, quickly quieted so as to hear what explanation he would give as why they were awoken in the middle of the night.

“It is with much sadness and regret that I must inform you of the death of Professor Quirrel.” started Dumbledore as the students gasps and started talking again.

“What happened?” someone yelled out.

“No need to worry. The teachers and I are handling it. Now for the next few days I would like you to stay in your dormitories and...” He trailed off looking a bit pale.

He quickly gathered himself up and said: “ Now off to your dormitories. Professors please meet in the staff room. I have a meeting.”

And with that he left the great hall. All the students just looked at one another. No one, not even the teachers seemed to know what had happened. Students slowly started leaving. Harry was one of the first. He wanted to know what had happened to make Dumbledore stop talking so abruptly.

What could make Dumbledore stop like that for. Harry took a few minutes to stop and think. It had to have something to do with the stone. That would be what was currently one Dumbledore's mind at the moment after all. But what could happen so suddenly that..

Of course! Not a what, but a who. Harry took off running. Didn't Dumbledore say that in the last timeline that he and the Flamels decide to destroy the stone while Harry was unconscious in the hospital wing?

Well, now would be about when they would show up and the Flamels would not be happy when they heard that the stone was gone. Come to think of it Dumbledore would be worried that Moldy Shorts had been successful and stolen the stone. Why didn't Harry think of that?

He practically ran to his Dormitory to grab the stone. He couldn't let Dumbledore think that Voldy had it. Things could get ugly real fast that way. He grabbed the stone from where he had hid it in his trunk and put it back in his pocket then he went to the owlery as fast as he could.

Harry had to apologize to Hedwig as she came down to take it from him. She was much to recognizable. So, he called a school owl to him and pulled out a small bit of parchment and a spare quill that he had grabbed when he got the stone.

He wrote out a quick note and then used a spell to make his handwriting unrecognizable. He was then sure to erase his magical signature as well. When he was done he looked over his note. It read:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Flamel,  
I am sorry to have worried you about your stone. Yes, I stole it but only to keep Voldemort from getting to it and using it to resurrect himself. I would never use the stone for myself. Immortality is the last thing that I would want. I apologize for worrying you. I wish you luck with whatever you decide to do.  
Sincerely,  
a concerned person

Satisfied, he tied the stone to it and sent it off with the school owl. He then hurried off back to his dorm before he could be missed.

He then settled down with a book to relax in the common room just for a few minutes. The next thing he knew he was being roughly shaken awake by the shoulder. He blinked sleepily up to see who it was and realized it was a prefect.

“Ah. Good Potter. You're awake. Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office. The password is skittles. Do you know where it's at?” asked the prefect.

“Yah. I was there once.” Harry answered

He quickly made his way up to the very familiar gargoyle and gave the password. He then stepped onto the equally familiar staircase. When he got to the top and knocked. He heard a quiet, “enter.” and so went in.

Dumbledore was in his usual spot behind his desk and Fawkes was sitting on his perch just like countless other times that he had been when Harry was there.

“Ah Harry my boy. It is good to see you. Do sit down.”

“Thank you sir.”

“So how were your classes this year.”

“They were good professor. A bit challenging at times, but I like it that way. How else am I supposed to learn?”

Dumbledore chuckled, “I am so glad that you enjoyed them my boy. Now.” Dumbledore's face grew serious. “I am afraid I have some very serious news to tell you.”

“What is it Professor?” asked Harry with a curious face plastered on. He felt the beginning of legilimancy and let Dumbledore see only his curiosity. For Harry was curious. He didn't know how much Dumbledore would tell him after all.

“Well I am sure you are wondering what happened to professor Quirrel.”

“Well yes sir. Everyone is. That is all anyone could talk about in the common room.” Harry let the images of his fellow students talking in the background while he was reading his book go through his mind.

“Well Harry I am not sure how to put it but Voldemort killed him.”

“Really sir? How did that happen?” Harry let surprise show on his face as well as in his mind and voice.

Dumbledore seemingly satisfied that Harry had know idea what had happened carried on.

“Well you see Voldemort was possessing professor Quirrel and killed him when he didn't get what he wanted.”

“That is terrible Professor.” said Harry,

“Yes it is. I have always known that he was still alive. So you see Harry he might not have his body back but he is still out there, so it is more important than ever that you go back to your aunt and uncle's house this summer.”

“I will do what is best for me as I said before professor.”

“Very good my boy. Well, I hope you have a wonderful summer.”

“Thanks. You too Professor.”

Harry then went back to his common room. He wondered what the Flamels had decided. He didn't know that he'd ever know. He just hoped that they weren't too upset that he had stolen it.

 

~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days were relatively peaceful for Harry. Oh course what happened to Quirrel was still the only thing that anyone could talk about and it was starting to get on his nerves somewhat.

He was therefore happy when the leaving feast came about. He and each of his friends sat at their own tables and chatted with their dorm mates and before Harry knew it Dumbledore was standing to give out the house cup.

“Another year gone! And I mus trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are a little fuller than they were...you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next school year starts...

“Now as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the point stand as thus: In fourth place, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and seventy- five points; In third, Gryffindor, with four hundred and thirty-five points; Ravenclaw has four hundred and forty-seven points; and finally our winners with four hundred and seventy-two points is Slytherin. So, Congratulations Slytherin!”

The Slytherins cheered and others, including Harry clapped politely. They all then dug in to the wonderful feast.


	23. Interlude2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dumbledore and Flamels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything that you recognize. Thanks for reading!

Albus Dumbledore didn't know what had gone wrong. He was sure that the protections on the stone would be enough to keep Voldemort busy until he got there. That was the whole point after all.

Oh he knew that the protections were easily passable. He wanted them that way. The whole point in bringing the stone to Hogwarts was to draw him out after all. He thought that his plan was brilliant. Draw Tom to Hogwarts with the stone and then capture him.

 

That was where it all went wrong. First there was that blasted note. How could he have fallen for that pathetic trick. He should have known better. But the note sounded so desperate. After all, everyone knew Fudge couldn't do a thing without him.

 

And then by the time he realized it was a fake and got back to Hogwarts, Tom and the Stone were gone. He couldn't figure out what had happened. The mirror wasn't broken but the stone was still gone and so was Tom with poor Quirrel left as a husk on the floor.

He spent all night investigating, but was no closer to an answer this morning, and now the wards alerted him to the last people he wanted to see at the moment. The Flamels. Oh how angry they would be and rightfully so. There was nothing to do but to meet them and meet them he did at the front gate.

Their expressions were stony and they were silent all the way up to his office. Sadly it didn't last.

“Albus. Where is our stone.”

 

“Well, you see..I don't know.”

“What do you mean you don't know.”

“I mean it is no longer where I put it but I am pretty sure that Voldemort doesn't have it.”

He explained what he found and by the end of this explanation, the Flamels were calmer but still not happy. They spent the next half hour brainstorming until they heard a tap tap tap at the window.

 

It was a school owl and it hopped over to Nicolas's shoulder. When he was done reading, his mouth was wide open. Just as the others were about to ask what was the matter, he ripped open the package and the others gasped. He passed the note around.

Albus cast spells to try to determine who had sent it but the couldn't figure it out. The Flamels were clearly just glad to have it back. After discussing their options, they decided that it would be best to get their affairs in order and destroy the stone. Albus respected their decision and said his good-byes.

 

He was certainly glad that Tom didn't have the stone. But that let the one question? Who had gotten it?


	24. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breakfast and a train ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything that you recognize. Thanks for reading. This chapter is not near so long as I would have liked it to be but I wanted to put a chapter out today because it is a special day for this story. One year ago today, I posted the Prologue for this story on fanfiction.net. I am very pleased with how how much support I have gotten. I want to thank everyone who has read my story. I appreciate each and every one of you for your continued support. Now enjoy:)

The morning after the feast was a very hectic day. Children all over Hogwarts found themselves engrossed in last minute packing. It seemed that it wasn't just the Weasleys who were prone to forgetting to pack or refusing to pack till the last minute.

 

Amongst all the chaos Harry awoke. He found that his dorm mates were scrambling to find the things that they had misplaced. After all it was very easy to misplace things when you lived in one place for ten months. After all who wants to live out of a trunk for that long.

 

Anyway, Harry was quite thankful that he had packed last night. He did not fancy joining in the chaos that was ensuing around him. He got out of bed and picked out the clothes that he had left out for the day and proceeded into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

When he came out, he found that his dorm mates were still in throw everything they can find in their trunk mode, so Harry went to breakfast without them. When he got there, he took a seat between Hermione and Neville at the Ravenclaw table. There they spent the rest of breakfast idly chattering away about nothing in particular.

They were just about to leave when one Draco Malfoy walked up to their table rather angrily with a piece of parchment clutched in his fist.

“Potter.” said Draco.  
“Malfoy” said Harry rather cheerfully. “What can I do for you.”

Malfoy scowled for a minute and then squared up his shoulders and raised his head up high. He took a deep breath and then proceeded with, “I just got my results for this years exams and it seems that I came in third place behind you and” here he paused for just a second then he continued with, “Granger.”

He had a slight sneer on his haughty Malfoy face but went on, “It seems we had deal and Malfoys never go back on their deals.” He didn't look pleased.

“I am glad to hear it Draco. I can call you Draco right.”

Said boy just looked dumbfounded.

 

“How about we exchange letters this summer.” said Harry as he stood and held out his hand for Draco to take. After a moment he did rather slowly.

“Good.” Harry exclaimed as he vigorously pumped Draco's hand up and down. “ I am glad we got that cleared up. Have a nice summer Draco.” And with that Harry sat down and Malfoy slowly walked away while hastily putting his mask back up.

“What was that about Harry.” asked Neville.

“Yeah.” added Hermione. “I thought you didn't like Malfoy particularly much.”

“I don't but that doesn't mean I want him as an enemy either. Not to mention that I don't know if you've noticed but all the things that come out of his mouth are the words that his father no doubt spouts at his home. I hoping that with a little help, Draco might learn to think for himself one day. I don't know that we'll ever become bosom buddies, but I think he deserves a chance at least.”

Hermione and Neville just gave each other a look like OK let's just go with Harry's craziness for now while Harry pretended not to notice said look. Before they knew it breakfast was over and they were heading down to the boats to go back across the lake.

Just like last time they got the notes warning them not to use magic. Harry was certainly glad that he could. Before Harry could get on the Hogwarts Express Hagrid came up to him with a very familiar photo album. Harry wondered why Hagrid hadn't given to him the previous night like he had in the previous timeline. Then he realized that he had not been in the hospital wing so of course Hagrid couldn't come visit him there.

“Ello there Arry. I got yeh a present.” He then handed Harry a very familiar photo album. Harry loved it even more than he had the first time. Now that he knew more about his parents and their friends than he did the first time around. Harry had to wipe tears from his eyes.

“Sent owls off ter all yer parent's old school friends, askin' fer photos... knew yeh didn' have any... d'yeh like it?”

“It's great Hagrid.” replied Harry still wiping tears from his eyes.

He then got on the train and the compartment that held his friends. They spoke all the way back to London. They were about halfway there when their conversation struck a cord in Harry's memory. He thought back to a similar conversation on the way to school where they had talked about Occlumency. He had forgotten to teach them and told them so.

“Why dont't we start with it now.” Suggested Hermione.

 

Harry liked that suggestion so they did. He got them to clear their minds and went into a meditative state himself. And before he knew it Hermione was shaking his shoulder. He had fallen asleep. He must have been more tired than he thought.

 

He quickly got up and looked out the window and found it was just as he'd thought it would be. Dumbledore was roaming the platform quite obviously looking for him. He definitely wanted to avoid him.

 

“Hey guys you go ahead.” Harry told his friends.

“Are you sure Harry?” asked Neville.

 

“Yah I am sure. Go on.”

 

They were still skeptically looking at him, but left. As soon as they were gone. He called Domina and she popped him back home totally avoiding Dumbledore in the process.


	25. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry thinks over what he has to do yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading!

When Harry got back to his home, he was greeted by all of his elves. They wanted to know if he was alright and if they could do anything such as take his things to his room for him. He allowed them to take his things and then asked them to make him a nice dinner and bring it to the library.

 

He knew Dumbledore would never rest until he was back at the Dursleys. If there was one thing that Harry wanted more than anything in the entire world, it was not to go back to the Dursleys. He also wanted Dumbledore off of his back. This put him in a bit of a situation, one that he really wasn't happy with. His wants conflicted with Dumbledore's wants and Harry knew that if Dumbledore really wanted too, he could make his life very difficult.

 

Dumbledore was still head of the Wizengamot and the ICW after all even if he would probably hesitate using said power to take Harry back to his relatives. Most important and relevant to Harry at that very moment was his other position. With him being Headmaster there was really no escaping him for Harry, not unless he went somewhere else for his education anyway and he couldn't do that.

Harry would never want to go somewhere like Durmstrang. They had too many questionable things going on there, especially with Karkaroff as the headmaster. Beaubaxtons was out of the question simply due to the fact that well, there wasn't really a good reason not to specially go there, but he still couldn't due to one simple fact. He couldn't change the timeline too much until he was able to defeat Voldemort. He feared that he already had.

“Don't worry you haven't.” said a very familiar voice suddenly.

Harry had just entered into the library so that he could do some research and was not expecting anyone to be in there especially considering the fact that no one knew where he lived well except Fawkes but he promised not to tell, or did he? It was always hard to tell with Phoenixes.

Anyway, that was besides the point. What the point was, was that there was someone besides him in his library. A very familiar someone.

Sitting on one of the tabletops situated in the library was the figure of a women in her mid twenties. Today her brown hair was up in an intricate braided bun. She was wearing a deep red blouse and skirt that came down just past her knees with matching boots that laced up the sides to her knees.

“Hello Harry surprised to see me?” she asked.

“Acara.” said Harry very afraid. “Don't tell me I died and didn't realize it. I'm sorry I didn't mean to. I don't know what I did.” rambled Harry fully panicked. He didn't want to make her mad at him. Truth be told he liked Acara but from what little he had seen of her, he really didn't want to make her angry.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a velvety laugh. “Oh Harry. You. You think your dead.” She smiled. “You are such a silly young man sometimes.”

Harry was startled by her outburst.

“No. I am just here to check how you are doing. Nothing more nothing less. I did tell you that I would be checking up on you right?” Acara asked.

Harry shook his head mutely.

“Oh! No wonder you look startled. I am so sorry. I meant to tell you but I guess with everything we were talking about well.” She shrugged. “What can you do?”

A moment later Harry snapped out of his surprise at seeing her and remembered what she had said. “What do you mean I haven't? Haven't what?”

“Haven't messed up the timeline irrevocably.” Acara said.

“Oh that is good? Wait. How did you know that was what I was thinking about and if you know what is going on then why did you need to come down and see how I was doing? Harry asked.

“I couldn't help but hear your thoughts. You are getting a bit lax in your Occlumency while here where you feel safe and were broadcasting your thoughts quite loudly.” She stated as if it was obvious which to her it probably was.

 

“To answer your second question.” she continued. “I can see what is going on down here, and so really don't need to come check on you but I wanted to.”

Harry processed what she said and then came up with yet another question. “How can you be here? I thought you couldn't interfere and that is why you sent me down here.”

“You are right in that we can't interfere, and I technically am not. I haven't said anything that has changed what you are going to do. It is a fine line I am treading but I know what I am doing. If I didn't then I wouldn't be doing it.” she stated.

“Ookay.” Harry said drawing out the first part. As long as she knew what she was doing then that was the important thing.

“So I haven't changed too much. That is good.” Harry said.

“Yes. Don't worry too much. What is supposed to happen will happen no matter how much you change it.” Acara told Harry.

“If that is the case then how did the original future get so messed up in the first place?” asked Harry.

“That case was slightly different. If it had been someone on earth who had tried to mess it up that much then the timeline would have corrected itself. It all comes back to the fact that the perpetrator wasn't of this earth and so knew how to mess it up right properly.”

Harry thought on this and thought it made sense though he still wondered about the specifics.

“Now I must say goodbye for now.”

“Really but you just got here?”

“Yes and if I stay here anymore I might give too much away and change the timeline. So till next time Harry. Ta.” Acara said in between one blink and the next she was gone.

Harry shook his head. She sure was weird. Though at least she didn't yell at him this time. Shrugging he went to sit down at the table that Acara had been sitting on and got to work. Where to start. He supposed that he should first look over the list that he had made the previous summer and revise it to see what he had done and what he had yet to do. He pulled out the list and looked it over. I read.

1\. Send Domina to buy Hedwig so that I can reply to the letter from Hogwarts.  
2\. Read and learn as much as I can from Potter library  
3\. Make sure Occlumency shields are up to snuff  
4\. When interrogated by Dumbledore, tell him you ran away because the Dursley's were cruel to you and that you won't tell him where you ran away to.  
5\. Destroy diadem ASAP  
6\. Try to get on good terms with Snape  
7\. Don't let Malfoy get on your nerves  
8\. Try to act like a normal 11-year-old as much as possible  
9\. Read a lot to explain abilities  
10\. Talk to the basilisk in the chamber of secrets and kill it if needed  
11\. Defeat Quirrel without alerting Dumbledore  
12\. Start up DA if possible  
13\. Destroy the ring summer after first year  
14\. Destroy the diary when it's given to Ginny  
15\. Free Dobby if possible  
16\. In third-year, take ancient runes, arithmancy, and care of magical creatures instead of divination  
17\. Figure out how to expose Wormtail  
18\. Devise trap for Wormtail  
19\. Prevent Remus from being outed if possible  
20\. Prove Sirius's innocence  
21\. Destroy cup after Sirius is proven innocent since he would have access to Bellatrix's vault  
22\. Destroy locket at Grimmauld before fourth-year  
23\. If Winky is given clothes by Crouch then bond to her  
24\. Get gillyweed for tournament  
25\. Kill Voldemort in graveyard

The first one could be crossed off the list. That was one of the first things that Domina had done for him last summer. He was so glad that she had.

Number two was a work in progress. He would learn as much as he could that summer. He had a lot of research to do after all.

Going on to number three, he decided to revise that one. His occlumency shield were good, but they could always be better. Acara had just demonstrated that.

The fourth one was taken care of at the beginning of the last school year. It was not his best plan, and it had not been fully developed at the time. This went back to what he had been thinking of earlier. He would have to come up with a plan.

His thoughts were interrupted once again. This time it was by a supper of chicken with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables appearing on his table. Realizing how hungry he was, he ate it swiftly along with the slice of treacle tart that appeared after that. He then, with a comfortably full stomach, went back to his work.

Where was he? Oh yeah number five. That he could cross off the list. The diadem was gone.

Numbers six and seven would always be a work in progress. He had done well this past year with both Snape and Malfoy. He would just have to keep doing what he was doing.

As for number eight well, he was mostly successful. No one had looked at him any more weirdly than normal or confronted him about acting like the twenty-five year old that he still felt like at times. This was good. However, he had heard some whispers about how mature he was. Oh well. He knew he couldn't be perfect.

Number nine was a little too successful in his opinion. The Ravenclaws had taken to glaring daggers at him at times due to his propensity to get better grades than them. Once again. Oh well. He could only dumb himself down so much. That is not to say that he was as smart as they were. He knew he wasn't. It was just that he had more experience than they did even if they didn't and couldn't know that.

The tenth and eleventh items on his list were both successes. He had made a good friend in Viride, and really hoped that he could destroy the diary before Tom Riddle could possess Ginny and take control of her. He really didn't want to kill her.

As for Quirrel, he had defeated him right under Dumbledore's nose. As far as he knew Dumbledore still didn't know who had done it. He was just sad that they had decided to destroy it. He knew it was a possibility but he had still hoped otherwise. His mind wandered back to the article that had been in that mornings paper.

~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~  
The Wizarding World says its goodbyes to the most brilliant  
Alchemist its ever seen and his wife.  
By Alicia Alexander  
Readers it is my sad duty to report that the wizarding world is losing two of its most famed members. It was announced early this morning that the famous Alchemist Nicholas Flamel and his wife Perenelle are going to be leaving us after more than six hundred years.

“It is time. We are tired and ready for the new adventure that awaits us in the afterlife.” Nicholas Flamel said in his statement this morning.

No one is quite sure as to their reasons, but we here at the Daily Prophet just want to wish them much luck and say that they will be missed.

For more on Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel see page 3  
For their information on their most famous creation the Sorcerer's Stone see page 5  
For theories as to why the Flamels are dying see page 7

~~~~~~End Flashback~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~

It made Harry sad to think of the wizarding world losing such interesting and brilliant people, but he would respect their wishes. There wasn't much he could do anyway.

He went back to going over his list and scratched off number twelve as a job well done. The DA was started and thriving. It was even better than before. He then looked over the rest of his list and found that he couldn't change anymore. He then went back and added things. When he was done it looked like this:

1\. Read and learn as much as I can from Potter library  
2\. Keep working on Occlumency shields  
3\. Keep on relatively good terms with Snape  
4\. Try to help Malfoy become a better person  
5\. Try to act like a normal twelve year-old as much as  possible  
6\. Keep reading  
7\. Try to keep from having to kill Viride  
8\. Figure out how to deal with Dumbledore and his obsession with keeping me at he Dursleys  
9\. Figure out how I want to deal with Lockhart.  
10\. Destroy the ring this summer  
11\. Destroy the diary when it's given to Ginny  
12\. Free Dobby if possible  
13\. In third-year, take ancient runes, arithmancy, and care of magical creatures instead of divination  
14\. Figure out how to expose Wormtail  
15\. Devise trap for Wormtail  
16\. Prevent Remus from being outed if possible  
17\. Prove Sirius's innocence  
18\. Destroy cup after Sirius is proven innocent since he would have access to Bellatrix's vault  
19\. Destroy locket at Grimmauld before fourth-year  
20\. If Winky is given clothes by Crouch then bond to her  
21\. Get gillyweed for tournament  
22\. Kill Voldemort in graveyard  
Harry had realized that he had forgotten all about Lockhart. He knew that he couldn't get rid of him. That could mess things up big time and despite Acara's assurances, he really didn't want to risk making a mess out of things more than he already was. After all defeating old Voldy was more important than having to deal with Mr. look at me I'm an awesome pretty boy who knows how to smile. He would deal with that tomorrow. He thought with a yawn.

He was just about to go up to bed when he was interrupted for a third time that evening when a flash of fire appeared in front of him.

“What does the senile old man want now Fawkes. I'm tired. No wait don't answer that. I know what he wants.”

 

Fawkes just looked at him amused.

 

Sure enough the letter said pretty much what he was expecting it too. It read:

Harry my boy,  
I was very disappointed when I missed you at the train station. I thought we had agreed that your relatives miss you and that you need to go back there. Reply with your location so that I can come and get you immediately.  
Sincerely,  
Albus Dumbledore.

Yup that was definitely what he had been expecting. Unfortunately for him, he still didn't know how to deal with it yet. That would be the first thing that he would look into tomorrow. For now though, he turned to Fawkes.

“I don't have a reply for him right now Fawkes. You can go back to him. I am going to bed. You are welcome to visit just like last summer.”  
Fawkes bobbed his head and left, leaving a very tired Harry to make his way to bed.


	26. Chapter 23 and Interlude 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry works out his Dumbledore problem. A short look into Dumbledore's goings on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything that you recognize. Thanks for reading:)

The next morning Harry woke up just as the sun rose and groaned. He had had a long day the day before and had been hoping that his body would allow him to sleep in. It seemed that it was not to be for no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get back to sleep.

After about fifteen minutes of trying and failing to go back to sleep Harry gave up with a sigh and got up to start the day. As he was getting ready, he realized why he couldn't sleep. Dumbledore. He had to come up with an answer for Dumbledore and fast.

Harry knew that his excuse last year was flimsy at best and still couldn't believe that Dumbledore had bought it in the first place. He knew though that it wouldn't keep him out of his hair much longer. It was imperative that he find a way to keep him away from him.

The easiest way would be of course to tell him the truth which he could not do. He had not forgotten Acara's warning that Dumbledore might obliviate him if he thought that was best. Not to mention that if he did then it might make Acara descend again and this time unleash her wrath upon him. No, he couldn't do that.

Then again he couldn't go back to the Dursleys either. He remembered what had happened the first time through this summer, with Vernon taking his stuff and putting bars on his windows. Then there was Dobby, who he still didn't know how to deal with and his warnings and showing up in his room. No. He couldn't let that happen. If only there was a way for him to be in two places at once.

Harry stopped in the middle of putting on a pair of jeans. Then he face palmed. Oh course! How could he have been so stupid! Who did he know that had learned how to be two places at once? He had learned the answer to his search the first time had had talked to Acara.

Didn't she mention how the spell Voldy had used outside the warehouse was a duplication spell? A spell that he had learned from the magical library that he had raided. A library that was currently still standing in the heart of London, open to the wizarding public.

Excited, he made his way to the dining room and scarfed down some bacon and eggs as quickly as he could. Logically, he realized that the library would still be there an hour from now, but it felt to Harry like it could disappear at any moment.

He finished eating and was getting up to leave when a flash of flames indicated that Fawkes had arrived presumably with another letter from Dumbledore. With a frustrated sigh, Harry took the letter and read:

Harry,  
Your family and I are worried. You did not respond to my last letter. Your Aunt and Uncle really want you to come home. Send me your location so that I can come and get you. We only want to be sure that you are safe.  
Sincerely,  
Albus Dumbledore  
Harry snorted. Yah his aunt and uncle really wanted him to be safe. That was the biggest lie that Harry had ever heard. Still, he had to write back something. He needed Dumbledore distracted until he could find the spell and put his plan into action.

It took him longer than he would have liked to come up with a response. He didn't want to give him any hints as to what was actually going on, and yet he had to give a logical explanation as to why he had disappeared again. Finally he came up with:

Dear Professor Dumbledore,  
I am sorry to have worried you all. I really never meant for that to happen. I was under the impression that when I agreed that I would go back to my relatives, it would be after I returned to where I was last summer first. I have a few things to do before I see my relatives again. I don't want them to worry but I did promise some friends I would see them first. I will let you know as soon as I am ready to see my Aunt, Uncle and, Cousin.  
Sincerely,  
Harry Potter.

Harry was very satisfied with this. The best part was that at least some of it was true. Some of it was blatant lies though like the part about him being sorry and that he believed that his relatives actually missed him. The part about friends was true though, sort of. The house elves were like friends after all.

Anyway, the letter should be efficient to at least get Dumbledore off his trail. It wouldn't for long but it would hopefully be for long enough. Harry hoped that Dumbledore would try checking at all his friends' houses first. That would take time. He needed to get going.

He called for Fawkes over from where he had been picking at the remains of his breakfast and asked him if he would take the letter to the Headmaster. In answer Fawkes took the letter in his beak and flamed out. With a sigh, Harry got up and got ready to go.

Now Harry did not much like going out for obvious reasons. If he went out as himself he would be fawned over which was the antithesis of what he wanted. It would be especially dangerous in this case with Dumbledore looking for him. He doubted that he would think of the library seeing as how he didn't know that Harry knew it existed and even if he knew he doubted that Dumbledore would think that he would go there. 

None the less, if he went there and the news got back to Dumbledore that he was there, as no doubt would happen, then he could get caught. The risk went up the more time he spent there and he knew that it would probably take at least a couple of days if not longer to find what he was looking for.

So with a sigh, Harry changed his looks as he had done last summer. His hair lengthened and turned auburn and curly. His eyes became a light shade of brown. Harry scowled at his reflection. He really did wish that changing his appearance wasn't necessary. It was though so he quite whining and apparated away.

~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as he appeared in a little used alleyway just down from where he knew he needed to go, he jumped and spun around as a loud bang issued forth. His eyes traced the outlines of the things that sit there. He got to a trash can near the end and had to stop himself from hexing the cat that jumped out.

Now Harry was irritated. Was he really still so jumpy even after a year of being in this time that he would mistakenly hex a cat? He thought about it and realized that he had probably not been as active as usual lately.

During the war, he had always been doing something physical. The main thing of course was running, a lot of running. There was also a lot of fighting. Running and fighting that was his life. He wanted it all to stop or in this case never begin, but it was hard. It seemed that despite all his efforts and his progress that his body and mind (mainly mind) still needed to feel like it was doing something physical, and what had he been doing? 

Besides, the occasional confrontation this past year, studying. He had been studying, which was an exercise of the mind not body. He definitely needed to change that. Maybe, he should talk to Domina about adding on a dueling chamber or maybe he could go outside and duel. Anyway, this summer would be busy. He had a lot on his plate.

He shook his head in order to clear his thoughts, as he needed to focus on the task at hand. After all, he had never been to the library himself, at least not while it was still standing. After it had fallen, he had been there, found Hermione there laying not far away, her hair a halo around her head, with her eyes glassy staring up at him. No. He needed to stop thinking that way. It would not happen again. He would make sure of it.

Steeling his resolve, he made sure that his clothes, a red tee shirt, jeans, and trainers were in order and walked down the street to where he knew that library to be. The street that he was on was decisively muggle. That is to say ordinary. I

t was lined with cafes and shops selling books and nicknacks with a couple of townhouses mixed in here and there. Walking along the sidewalks were muggles young and old, and running down the center was your usual London traffic. It was noisy and crowded and was definitely no somewhere you would think that a magical library to be, yet it was.

Smack dab in the middle of the street on the left hand side was what looked to be an abandoned townhouse. Its windows were dark and grimy, and the walls were covered in ivy. The passing muggles barely spared it a glance,and indeed so would Harry if he didn't know what it was.

However, since he did he walked right up the steps and passed literally through the doors and into a huge atrium. Everywhere Harry looked There was wood. There were bookshelves of oak and cedar and mahogany. All so different yet worked so well together.

As he looked up he noticed that the upper floors looked over the atrium with railing surrounding them. At the very top, hanging from the ceiling was a magnificent crystal chandelier that looked like many he had seen in pictures of muggle mansions except with ever burning candles instead of light bulbs. It was very impressive.

Looking down, he noticed that he was walking on carpet that was a sapphire blue diamond pattern that went well with the sky blue walls that looked to have wizarding portraits of people that he had never seen before on them. All in all, it was an elegant library. He wondered if he could get the name of whoever had designed the décor, he wondered thinking of Acara and her complaints of her plain office.

He would have to remember that for later. Harry turned towards the front desk, that was also oak and had a stern looking librarian behind it. He sighed. This would be made more difficult wouldn't it. 

Originally he was going to ask the librarian where the advanced spell books were, using the excuse that he was looking for a book that his father had sent him to check out, but he knew that if this woman was anything like Madam Pince then he would be heavily scrutinized and that was one thing that he could not afford.

Coming up with a new plan on the spot, he walked up to her.

“Yes.” She said. “What do you want.”

“Well you see, this is my first time in the library and I am sort of lost you see. I don't know where anything is and I was wondering if you could tell me what was on each of the floors.” Harry replied as innocently sounding as he could.

He didn't think he fooled her one bit for she was still looking at him rather sternly. However, it was her job to tell patrons like him where to go so she outlined the library rather sullenly.

“The basement is where you will find all the children's books with fiction on the left of the stairs and nonfiction on the right. This floor, the ground floor is the teen and adult fiction books. The first floor is the floor that you would probably most interested in, for it is the nonfiction for Hogwarts age students.” The librarian said.

“What about the top two floors?” Harry asked

“The top two floors should not concern you young man. The second and third floors contain the nonfiction for adults and highly advanced books. You should have no reason to go up there. Understood.” She asked sternly, with what Harry could tell was a warning edge to it.

“Yes ma’am. Oh course. Thank you.” Harry smiled and started to walk away.

However, he didn't get very far before he heard, “Not so fast young man.”

Turning back towards the librarian, He took a few steps till he was once again right in front of her.

“Before you leave, it is policy for you to have a library card.” She said.

“Oh sure. What do I need to do?” asked Harry.

“It is simple.” explained the librarian. “You just write your name on this parchment card here.” she said indicating a line with an x beside it. “Then you carry it with you every time you come to the library. Then, if you want to check a book out you simply walk out the door with it and a piece of parchment will appear in my in-box with the name on the card and the name on the book. You have four weeks to return it. If you don't you will owe a sickle fine for every week it is late.”

“What if I don't bring my card with me?” asked Harry.

“It is simple. There are spells on the door that indicate to the librarian on duty that the person who entered, does not have a card. In which case it is their duty to make sure that they have one.”

It made sense to Harry. However, he did have one more question. “So, the spells register the name on the card, not the person's name?”

The librarian gave him a death glare, and so Harry elaborated with a made up excuse. “I really don't like my first name.”

She didn't look to be buying in but gave an affirmative. So, Harry signed the card Matt Baskin and went on his way over to the staircase to carefully make his way to the top floor, where he spent the rest of the day and the next several days avoiding the few people up there and looking for the spell in question.

~~~~~~~~~~~NTTMP~~~~~~~~~~

Almost a week had gone by before he knew it. He was getting so frustrated. He had gotten two more letters from Dumbledore in that time and knew he had to find the spell soon. It was times like this that he wished he had Hermione around, Hermione who was a brilliant researcher, who had died trying to find new spells, Hermione who had... 

He face palmed. Hermione who had found a spell that would search all books in the vicinity for a keyword specified by the caster, making them glow so that only the caster could see them. A spell that she had taught him ages ago in a future that would not be.

He took out his wand and making sure noone was around, silently cast the spell. An hour later he had found it. He began to read.

~~~~~~~~~~~Interlude 3~~~~~~~~~~~~

Albus Dumbledore was a very busy man. He was Headmaster, supreme mugwump and chief warlock to boot. All these things were very important and very time consuming. Sometimes, how was concerned that he just did not have enough time to spend on each of them, and thought of retiring from one or more. 

Then he would think of those that he knew he would succeed him and know that he couldn't. There was a war coming and he knew that he would need to be in a position to help take down Tom.

Oh Tom. How could he have gone so bad. To this day Albus still felt guilty. He knew when he first met an eleven year old Tom Riddle that he could be dangerous, but he never thought that he would turn into what he did. No. He hadn't. He still hoped that there was some innocence in him somewhere, but it became harder all the time for even him to believe.

He couldn't think of him now though. Now he had to think about young Harry. You would think that with school being out for the summer that he would have more time, but no. This summer he had to track down Harry Potter who had never returned to his relatives. He had thought that they had had it all sorted out last September, but apparently not.

Now, he spent whatever time he could trying to track him down. He had already asked all of Harry's friends if he was there and when he wasn't he became worried. What if a deatheater had found him? His mind came up with all sorts of horrifying images. He began getting even more worried, and that is when Fawkes flamed away. Before he had time to wonder where he had gone, he was back with a letter. Albus took it gently, then with an action that betrayed his worry, ripped it open. It read:

Dear Headmaster,  
I am done visiting my friends. I will be outside Fortescue's in Diagon Alley in half an hour. Sorry for worrying you.  
Sincerely,  
Harry Potter.

Without a moments hesitation, Albus flooed through to the Leaky Cauldron to go pick up who he thought was Harry Potter.


	27. Chapter 24 and Interlude 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry finishes up at the library and casts the spell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading!:)

Harry still couldn't believe that he had wasted a week trying to find the book that contained the spell when if he would have just remembered, he would have been out of there on the first day. Oh well. Sighing, he picked up the book and read:

“Duplicabit meipsum- a self duplication spell. Used to be in two places at once.

Invented in 1793 by Arnadius Crotan so that he could elope with his mistress without his wife knowing. This turned out to be a could thing for Crotan because his wife poisoned his dopple ganger the very next day. When she went to get the authorities saying that her husband had just keeled over and that someone needed to help him, they found nothing but a pile of purple and gold dust. She kept insisting that it was him, and so ended up in Saint Mungo's long term patient ward.

The wand movement is simple. You point your wand at yourself while saying Duplicabit and then point your wand in front of you while saying meipsum. The hard part of the spell is that all the while you have to keep a clear vision of yourself in your mind. You also must be sure not to put too much power into this spell.(see spell limitations below) 

Limitations of this spell.  
You can only have one clone at a time.  
You can not absorb the memories of your clone so you will not know what happened to them unless they tell you or you see it for yourself.  
Your magic is split between the two so when envisioning it you must imagine how much of your magic you want the clone to have.  
If your clone dies, your magic you put in it does not come back to you.

Reversal spell- posuit se in unum   
The wand movements of the reversal spell are as you say posuit you point your wand at the clone. Then you point the wand at yourself as you say se in unum. It doesn't matter how far away from the clone you are as long as you can see them. Beware clone will disappear in purple and silver glittering smoke which when inhaled could cause severe coughing.

'Well then' Harry thought. 'I will just have to not breathe the smoke in then.' Even Harry was not so stupid as to breathe in smoke even if it was pretty smoke. He was just a little disappointed about the limitations of the spell though. There were many plans that required him to have all of his magic. The most dangerous was of course going after the ring which had taken out Dumbledore.

'Dang it.' Harry thought. If only he had thought of the ring sooner. He wanted to get it that summer so as to have one less horcrux to worry especially with what he hoped would happen next summer. After all, he hoped Sirius would be out of Azkaban the next summer.

There was nothing for it now though. Harry had to go through with the spell as soon as he could. He could always put it off for a few more days, but he knew that Dumbledore was probably getting desperate, and desperate men took desperate measures. While he knew it was highly unlikely that he would be found, he wanted no more time wasted.

Resigned to his predicament Harry closed the book rather loudly and slumped down in his seat. He was getting up when he heard a Huff behind him. Turning around, he paled. He tried to back away slowly, but forgot about his chair that was still behind him, and before he knew it he was sprawled on the ground.

“Mr. Baskin is it.” The librarian from a few days earlier said as she bore down on him. “What are you doing on a floor that I believe I specifically warned you away from?!”

Harry realizing he was doing his best impression of a deer caught in headlights. He closed his mouth and tried to school his features into something a tad less guilty. It didn't seem he was succeeding when the librarian continued to glare at him.

“Well.” She snapped. “Are you going to sit there looking like a child caught with his hand in a cookie jar or are you going to answer my question.” Her glare grew harder if that was possible.

Harry gulped a came up with an answer on the spot. “I was just getting research for my dad ma'am.”

The librarian snorted with disbelief clearly written on her features. “If that is true and I highly doubt that young man, then your father could surely find time to come to the library and do his research himself.” Throughout her little speech her voice had ridden ever higher till it got the attention of everyone on the floor.

Realizing that he was making a scene, which he really did not want he made his excuses. “Sorry ma'am. Won't happen again.” Harry said getting up off the floor and backing away.

“You are quite correct it won't Mr. Baskin. You are hereby banned from the library. Now get out of my sight!” She said and with a flick of her wand, the books Harry had been reading were returned to their proper places on the shelves for which Harry was grateful. He really would rather no one know what he was reading.

Seeing the librarian, and indeed many other patrons, staring at him he quickly left the library. He could always come back again under a different glamor if he needed to. For now, he had what he needed and after going back to the alley, he quickly apparated back to the manor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ANTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Harry arrived back at the manor, he took the rest of the day to be sure that he was prepared to cast the spell. It wasn't a difficult one by any means. Well, not in the traditional sense anyway.

It was difficult in the fact that he needed to have a clear picture of himself in his mind. In this case a slightly meeker and more “repentant” version of himself. A version that would be able to convince Dumbledore that he was sorry for having been away, but would still not give up where he had been staying or who he was supposedly visiting. It also needed to be one that would be able to stand the Dursleys or at least one that would be able to stay with his so called loving family and not explode.

After a good night's sleep, he thought he was ready. So after asking for his elves to not disturb him, he tried the spell. Thinking hard about a boy that looked like him and thought like him and was in many ways like him, but not him, he pointed his wand at himself and clearly said Duplicabit. 

Making sure to keep his focus on the image in his mind, he released a trickle of power into the spell. Moving his wand in front of him he incanted the word Meipsum. He only had a moment to ask himself if it worked before his world went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ANTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry awoke what had to be several hours later with a splitting headache. He moaned a bit and felt something move to his right. Wondering what it was he slowly moved his hand and grabbed his glasses off the stand.

“Gah!” Harry yelled as he finally saw what was in front of his face. He scrambled backwards. “Don't do that.”

“Don't do what?” His clone asked.

“Get up in my face while I am sleeping.”

“But you weren't sleeping.” The clone said confusedly.

Harry wasn't fooled for a moment though. He could see the smile that was tugging at the corners of the clones lips.

“Why I outta.” Harry cried as he threw at pillow at his clone.

Laughing the clone ducked and grabbed another one of the pillows. Before they could get into an all out pillow fight though. It was broken up by one angry elf popping into the room.

“Master Harrys sirs. You shouldn't bees playing. The master needs rest.” Domina said forcefully.

“Sorry Domina.” Both Harrys said looking down shamefully at the floor. Though anyone that knew Harry would know that he didn't mean it.

It appeased Domina though because came over and settle Harry back into bed and handing him a vial of what had to be headache potion. “Yous shouldn't bees doing such magic Master Harry. Yous body not ready for sos much magic at once.”

Harry looked at her confused. “But I thought I split my power in half Domina. That is too much magic?”

Domina sighed but explained, “Yes Master Harry. Yous is very powerful wizard. Not Merlin powerful, but still mores powerful than most almost twelve years olds should be. When you moved so much magic at ones time. Even with only a little beings put towards doing the spell, it was toos much for your young body. Yous could have died! No more spells like that for at least another year Master Harry. Then yous can handle it.”

Harry laughed softly. At her affronted look, he put up his hands in surrender. “OK Domina. I won't use this spell again till next summer at the earliest. I promise.” He said earnestly.

“Yous better.” she said as unhappily as she left. Harry just smiled again.

Turning his attention back towards his clone, he said, “OK now what to do with you.”

“Send me to the Dursleys. That is why you made me isn't it?” The other Harry said looking a bit sad.

Harry sighed. “Yes. I am sorry about that. I wouldn't subject anyone to them if I could especially a clone of myself, but I need to get things done. Important things and I can't have Dumbledore looking for me every moment of every day if I want to accomplish such things.”

“I understand. I just wish the world didn't have to be this way.” Harry the clone said.

The original Harry nodded back. “Me too. Now down to business. I suppose we should write to Dumbledore and tell him to collect you. It would have to be somewhere neutral where he wouldn't get any clue where you had come from.”

Both Harrys pondered for a minute. Finally the clone spoke up. “How about somewhere in Diagon? No one we know should be there today as the lists for school haven't come out yet, and it is well the center of the wizarding world in a way.”

Harry nodded. “I certainly can't think of anything better. Now to get you ready. You know what to do while at the Dursleys?”

His clone nodded. “Keep out of their way as much as possible. You will be by to reverse the spell early on the first of September.”

Harry nodded. “Correct. Just don't use any magic for any reason, and try not to let them get on your nerves. They are not worth it.”

The other Harry nodded back. “Now lets write that letter to Dumbledore.” 

It took much work, because they didn't want to give to much away to Dumbledore. They also could not agree where exactly in Diagon to meet him. One wanted it to be outside of Gringotts due to it being considered neither Harry's nor Dumbledore's exclusive territory and would therefore be more neutral than any other place.

While the other agreed on the that point, they also pointed out that if they met outside of Gringotts Dumbledore might get the idea that Harry had been inside of Gringotts and would therefore wonder why. This could lead him to thinking that maybe he had done something like oh maybe taking an inheritance test which he certainly wouldn't want. While it probably wouldn't be detrimental to them in the long run, it would make Dumbledore even more of an annoyance than he already was.

The both of them eventually settled on Fortescue's. It was an open area in which the Harry clone could easily blend in at. Also, it had the added benefit that it would in no way hurt them to be connected to it.

That decided they made a draft of the letter. It took several tries but in the end they had a workable letter that went like this:

Dear Headmaster,  
I am done visiting my friends. I will be outside Fortescue's in Diagon Alley in half an hour. Sorry for worrying you.  
Sincerely,  
Harry Potter.  
It was short and to the point. Just as they wanted it to be. Harry called for Fawkes who soon arrived in a ball of flames. “Hello Fawkes. How are you today? Dumbledore giving you any trouble?”

Fawkes simply trilled a few notes. Before Harry could ask if he could take the note, his stomach grumbled. Laughing, Harry realized he had missed lunch and so asked if Fawkes would like to join them for a late meal before he took their note to Dumbledore.

Fawkes trilled again, and before Harry could ask, there were several plates of food in front of them. Harry smiled and invited both his clone and Fawkes to dig in. Dig in they did and before they knew it the meal was over. Sighing. Harry got up, and looked at his clone.

“Time's up I am afraid. We can't put it off any longer.”

His clone nodded and got up as well. “Oh right Fawkes can you wait five minutes and then take this note to Dumbledore.” Harry said giving Fawkes the note. “I have no doubt he will rush off immediately after getting it and my clone needs to be in place before then”

Harry and his clone left as Fawkes nodded.

Interlude 4  
Albus Dumbledore whistled as he walked down the alley. Harry would finally be in his grasp once more in a few minutes. That would be enough to make anyone happy. Dumbledore smiled to himself. Yes, he would soon finally be able to relax after looking for Harry for so long.

Coming up alongside Fortescue's, he easily spotted the boy, sitting at a table eating a bowl of ice cream.

“Harry, my boy. Where have you been? Your family and I have been so worried.” Albus said in his most disproving tone.

“I really am sorry headmaster. I just wanted to visit some friends. I was sure my Aunt knew that I would be gone. I didn't mean to worry her.” Harry said looking at the ground.

“It is fine my boy. Just don't do it again.”

“Oh course not Professor.” Harry said looking scandalized. “I hate hurting my aunt.”

“All is well. Now who were these friends you were visiting?” Albus asked in his most soothing voice.

“I can't tell Professor. It's a secret.” Harry said nodding vigorously. “But don't worry Professor. They wouldn't hurt me.”

“Very well, Harry. Come now and grab on to my arm and I will take you to your Aunt's.” Harry didn't look him in the eye. Albus frowned. He had hoped to catch a peek at who it was. He would just have to find out another way.

Harry stood up after throwing away the remains of his ice cream and took the Professor's arm. With a crack, the clone was taken away to Privet Drive and the real Harry made his way back to his real home.


	28. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first few weeks of summer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading:)

The next several weeks seemed to fly by, or at least they did to Harry. He kept himself very busy. The reason for this was quite simple. He missed his friends.

As had happened the first time round, he got no letters or packages. What was different than the first time was that he of course knew and was expecting Dobby to be stealing his mail. Just because he was expecting it to happen did not mean that he was any less sad not to be hearing from his friends. It just meant that at least this time he knew that they were still his friends and that he would be able to get in touch with them eventually. The sooner the better.

So, he kept himself distracted with many things. One of the first things he did was build an obstacle course in the back of his property. He remembered that he really should keep in shape.

With that in mind he spent an entire day mapping out what he wanted his obstacle course to look like on a piece of parchment. It couldn't be huge, Harry didn't want it to take up a whole lot of yard. He did want it to be decent sized though.

It was another two days of backbreaking work even with magic to make the image on the paper come to life. Most of this was because he needed to look up the necessary spells in order to complete the various components of the course.

He didn't do it alone. Both Fawkes and Hedwig decided to keep him company. Even if they hindered more than helped, it was still nice to be reminded that he was not alone in the world. 

Their antics were a welcome break from his work as he couldn't help but smile and laugh at them at times. They seemed to get along quite well with each other. When they weren't sitting nearby watching as he worked on his course, they were doing tricks in the sky. Also, they seemed to have conversations if the gestures with their wings were anything to go by.

Harry wondered what they could be conversing about. At times he had a feeling that they were talking about their companions, meaning he and Dumbledore. It was a bit disconcerting that he could be talked about by birds behind his back but he was mostly used to it with the whole school turning on him so often.

So in the company of a couple of avian creatures, he worked upon and completed his obstacle course. In the dying light of the second day, Harry looked upon his finished work. He nodded to himself. It wasn't quite like the picture, but it had turned out really well.

Modeled after a military obstacle course, it started off with a set of eight tires to run through, and then turned straight into a climbing wall with a rope down the other side. Next, was another rope attached to a wooden pole that was attached to two poles that were in the ground five feet apart. The rope hung over a pit that was filled with water.

After that there were five pieces of wire stretched taunt two feet off the ground over a pit of mud, that Harry would have to crawl under. Finally there was a set of four poles that he would have to weave around in order to cross the finish line.

Yes, Harry was quite proud of himself. From the next day on till the end of the summer, he ran the course every morning before breakfast. Then he would retire to the library where he would work on his other projects that he wanted to have done before he went back to school in the fall.

In his previous life, he hadn't quite realized how long it was between the beginning of summer vacation and when he had ended up going to Diagon Alley for his books. Mind you, it wasn't a long time when you had as much to do as Harry did, but it was still a long month and a half. 

In truth he had less to do than he was planning on originally due to the limitations wrought on him by the duplicate spell that he was currently under. These limitations made it inadvisable to go after the ring. If Dumbledore had gotten a death sentence while going after the ring while he was at his full power, then Harry shuddered to think what would happen if he went after the ring at half power. He wanted to live to finish off old Moldywart after all. Not to mention the future he wanted after that.

Even without going after the ring, he still wanted to go to the Gaunt shack to scout it out carefully. Though he wouldn't get too close. However, if he could scout it out and figure out some of the protections, then he would be better prepared for when he would go after it. Maybe over Christmas break.

Harry also had to remember that Dobby would visit on his birthday and so would have to be prepared for him to show up. He would have to convince him that he would not go back to Hogwarts in September and get him to give him his mail.

Would his mail even come to Harry though or would it go to the Harry at the Dursleys? Come to think of it would Dobby go to that Harry? He didn't know. Dobby would more likely go to the Harry at the Dursleys, now that he thought about it. Harry was after all behind some very strong wards. Harry sighed. He would just have to hope that “Harry” was able to deal with Dobby properly. He was, after all, unable to communicate with him now that he was at the Dursleys. It was one of the drawbacks to the spell that Harry would have to fix the next time he used it.

Turning his thought to other things, there was something more important to deal with. He wanted to get rid of something that had been a thorn in his side in his original fifth year. Something that Voldemort spent months and month dwelling on. The thing that helped cause Sirius's death. The prophecy.

The sooner it was taken care of the better in Harry's opinion. While it was unlikely that the timeline would change so much as to cause Tom to go after it or even think about going and or sending someone after it before nineteen ninety-five, Harry didn't want to take a chance.

That was the next project that Harry wanted to undertake. The dilemma, to destroy it or destroy and leave a copy of it. If he just destroyed it then Voldemort would have no reason to go after it which would be a huge plus. On the other hand, Dumbledore would also know something was up which was a huge negative.

If he left a copy after he destroyed it then the reverse would be true. Voldemort would have no idea that the prophecy would be messed with, but neither would Dumbledore. Though it could be good to use it as a distraction for Dumbledore. If he was looking into what happened with the prophecy then he would sure not be watching “Harry” so closely. Though “Harry” shouldn't be up to anything anyway so...

In the end Harry decided that putting a copy in place would be the best idea, because he knew that bringing Dumbledore's attention to the prophecy would eventually lead him to look back Harry's way. If Voldemort decided to go after the prophecy early well then it would just be a copy and so he wouldn't gain anything from it except for that he might realize that Harry was the one who replaced it with said copy. The chances of him going after it were also very slim so...

How to go about it though. He remembered the basic layout of the Department of Mysteries from the last time that he was in there quite vividly. That night was after seared into his mind due to the great loss he suffered at he hands of Bellatrix Lestrange.

He never did find out exactly how that room with the spinning doors worked though. Was there a pattern to the spinning or was it entirely random. Though if it was random, then how did the Unspeakables know which door was which?

He also needed to decide when exactly he would go and what type of security would be there at that time. After all it couldn't always be as deserted as it was that first time he entered it. Though this was the ministry he was talking about. A ministry under the supposed leadership of one Cornelius Fudge. It would be better not to underestimate them though. One slip up and he could be caught which could ruin every thing.

Coming up with a plan of course involved a ton of research. So much research for so many days that Harry thought he could go blind from staring at books for so long. After pillaging the library in the manor for a week, he then proceeded with caution back to the library in London.

This time his hair was short and blond and his eyes were a sea foam green. Getting a card with the name Darius Adrian, he carefully made his way back to the third floor. After another week of careful seeking, he finally had everything that he needed.

It turned out that the ministry really was just lazy and stupid considering he was able to actually find even the basics of the defenses. He decided that it would actually be better to go during the day seeing as how busy it was on a daily basis. One almost twelve year old in an invisibility cloak should be able to slip through undetected especially with his slightly enhanced steath.

His plan made, he spent a few day preparing and was ready to go on the fifteenth of July. Disguised in his Matt Baskin persona and tightly wrapped in his invisibility cloak, he disaparated to the designated apparition point in the ministry.

Arriving with wand in hand, he glanced around. No one had noticed his arrival. Good. Ignoring the check in desk, he walked past the Fountain of Magical Brethren. Seeing that it was still the same fountain it was before the war was just another reminder to Harry of when he was and brought great happiness and great sorrow at the same time.

On the one hand it was still sort of disgusting and unrealistic the way the centaur and goblin looked at the wizard in wonder. Though it was still a happy reminder that Tom hadn't conquered the ministry yet and hadn't changed the fountain to a pile of muggle corpses. It was also a sad reminder of a lost friend as Ron had died in a spot not far from there whilst trying to protect the few uncorrupted ministry workers as they were trying to escape.

Shaking his head and turning back to the mission at hand, Harry made his way to the nearest lift. This was one of the riskier parts and one of the reasons why he had come during the lunch break. As there were many workers about, but hopefully not so many as to cram him in the lift and be noticed.

Luck seemed to be on his side for once because he was able to get in the lift with just three others who all seemed to be busy with their own thoughts. Busy enough that they didn't notice when he pushed the button for level nine and then stepped back into the corner to await the decent down into the very bowels of the ministry. Harry kept vigilant though for he never knew when his luck would turn as it so often did.

His three companions got off long before level nine with two others getting on and off in that time period. It was a cautious Harry that exited into a very familiar hallway. Creeping to the door, Harry ran his wand over it. No alarms there. He then checked for people beyond. No one there.

Opening the door he walked in and hesitantly closed it. Around and around the doors did spin, making Harry a bit dizzy. This was one of the other riskier parts of his plan. It seemed that the room would take voice commands, but only from an unspeakable, which Harry was not nor had ever been. Therefore he would have to do it the old fashioned way, and hope that no unspeakables or anyone else for that matter showed up before he could find the time room.

Moving forward he opened the one in front of him. It was very dark with a glow like from the sun. Clearly the room with the planets and therefore not the time room. Closing the door, he proceeded to mark it using flagrate.

Stepping back, the doors spun once more. Opening the next one, Harry spotted benches descending to an arch where he could clearly hear voices. Nope. Closing the door a little harder than intended and shaking off memories of Sirius falling, Harry marked that door as well.

The next door he tried was the locked one, that Dumbledore had told him contained all the details pertaining to the study of love. Harry still wasn't sure that he believed him, but marked the door anyway.

The Brain room was next and was just as gross as he remembered. He quickly closed the door, wanting nothing to do with something that would make him forget what he needed to do. He marked the door and moved on to the next one.

Four more rooms and four more fails and Harry began to get frustrated. He would surely be found any minute. Finally he opened a door to find the time room. Sighing softly he entered.

Cautiously he made his way through the room knowing that there were some dangerous devices there. He passed all the time turners that had been broken the last time he was there. Maybe he would grab one on the way out. Not at that moment though. He had to get his primary objective. Opening the door, he cautiously entered into the Hall of Prophecies.

Making his way to row ninety-seven, Harry kept an eye out for any unspeakables that may be there. It seemed to Harry to take ages to get there but it couldn't have been any more than five minutes before he was looking at a prophecy. A prophecy that underneath it read:  
S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D  
Dark Lord  
and (?) Harry Potter 

After all the trouble that stupid thing caused, Harry was more than ready to get rid of it. Thanking whoever was watching that he was able to carry out his plan without unspeakables interfering, he picked up the prophecy then froze. What was clearly an alarm had begun to blare. Cursing his own stupidity, he had clearly thought too soon.


	29. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Harry's time in the DOM

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything that you recognize. Thanks for reading.:)

'Dang it. Why do these things always happen to me?' Harry thought. He always had the worst luck. It was like he was a trouble magnet.

 

Was it actually possible to literally become a trouble magnet in the magical world? Harry thought about it. If anybody was one it would most definitely be him, that was for sure. Time and time again trouble found him. Was it too much to ask for a quiet life? Heck a quiet year would be nice. Just one. Harry supposed that theoretically it was possible. Maybe he'd get some peace and quiet after he offed old Moldywarts.

Jerking himself out of his thoughts at the sound of footsteps coming his way, Harry was reminded that he had a bigger and slightly more pressing issue at the moment than whether or not he was literally a trouble magnet. He was going to be caught if he didn't get moving. He might be the boy-who-lived but he didn't think that that would help him if he got caught in the department of mysteries.

When Harry thought about it, he realized that exactly who he was might actually hurt rather than help if he was caught. This was especially true if they realized he was a time traveler. It would be one thing to be a nobody time traveler who was caught. If he was a nobody they would still do things like experiment on him. They were the department of mysteries after all not the department of fluffy bunnies and rainbows. Who knew what they got up to down there.

If they realized that Harry Potter was a time traveler well, he would be mined for information as well as being dissected which needless to say was one experience he would prefer not to encounter not in this lifetime nor any other. Then they might realize that Voldemort would come back and try to muck up the whole timeline. It was a bit of a jump but not a huge one if one used even an ounce of logic. After all why else would Harry Potter come back. Then again most wizards didn't have an once of logic so he might be safe, but he couldn't take the chance.

In his panic he was totally forgetting what Acara had told him about self correcting timelines. If he had thought about it then he would have realized that whomever or whatever was making sure that the timeline stayed on track would never have let him get captured. Harry wasn't thinking about that though. He was trying to figure a way out of the situation.

 

Anyway, the whole time these thoughts about dissection and time traveling were running through his head, he was trying to exit the ministry as quickly as he could. The quicker he got out of there the better. It was times like these that he hated the ministry. It was like fifth year all over again. Running through the corridors of the DOM from pursuers of whom at least one was probably corrupt if not more. At least this time he knew where he was going.

How to get out though? The way he had gotten in of course. It really was the most direct and quickest route as far as he knew and he certainly needed to get out of there fast.

Still with his cloak securely wrapped around his body, Harry continued to make his way through the aisles of the Hall of Prophecies. He made his way as quickly as he dared. As he walked, he could hear those that worked there, commonly known as unspeakables though no one knew what they were really called, calling back and forth to one another.

One of them yelled, “Will someone shut that blasted alarm off. We don't need no stinkin' aurors in here traipsing all over the place and stickin' their noses in where they dang well don't belong. Why does that alarm even link to their offices anyway? Blasted no good rotten minister and his nosy I'm so much better than you attitude.” The last part was said in a grumbling voice. That Harry could hear it as loud as he could was bad even with his slightly heightened hearing. It meant that the unspeakable was far too close for comfort. He should probably get his butt moving.

By then he was quite close to the door to the time room. If he could just open the door, just a little bit, enough for his form to slip through unnoticed then he would be one very big step closer to being free of that place. He slowly, carefully, inched open the door. “What's that?” came the shout.

'Drat.' Harry thought. 'There would be my luck again.' The nearest unspeakable had clearly spotted him or rather the door opening. He went into the room quick as he could and ran towards the other end and the door that would lead him to the circular room of doors. He kept going until he heard people moving from that direction as well.

Now Harry really had begun to panic. He was trapped. Even though he was invisible under Death's own cloak of invisibility, he knew that they wouldn't stop their search until they found the intruder. He knew they would find him eventually. He couldn't loose his head though no matter how bleak the situation may have seemed. If he lost his head then all would be lost. His whole mission. The whole reason he came to past. It would never come to pass.

'Think Harry think. What would Hermione do?' Hermione. Department of Mysteries. Time turners like the one from third year. Time turners like the one from third year that you could use to go back in time. Time turners that were right beside him. Duh.

Harry was in the time room where a ton of time turners were in a time that it didn't matter if he picked one up and triggered an alarm because the alarm was still going off despite that one unspeakable yelling to shut it up.

Before an unspeakable could come in and see him, Harry reached out from under his cloak and grabbed the nearest time turner. Slipping it over his head, he spun it back three hours as he figured that would give him enough time to get out before he got there and wasn't that a confusing thought. Time travel was confusing. The world began to spin backwards just in time because as he disappeared the doors at either end sprang open.

Harry was swept into the past. The world spun and spun until it suddenly stopped. Harry then took a moment to get his bearings and calm his heart rate. It looked just the same as it would look a few hours later. Seeing as how he was successful he breathed a huge sigh of relief.

As carefully as he had made his way in two hours later, Harry was doubly careful as he made his way out. Seeing as how it had been peaceful when he had first arrived there, he didn't want to be doing things that would trip any alarms. He knew that he hadn't but now that he knew they were there, he didn't want to take a chance. You could never be too careful after all.

He took a moment to wonder why the alarms hadn't blared the first time he had gone there during his fifth year. It wasn't long before he realized that the death eaters must have disabled any alarms. After all they needed Harry to make it all the way to the Hall of Prophecies so that he could get the prophecy for them.

There was that and that they didn't want any aurors or unspeakables swooping in and arresting them. For even if the ministry hadn't believed Voldemort to be back they surely wouldn't take too kindly to members of the pureblood elite breaking into the department of mysteries. They would have in all likelihood been able to talk their way out of prison time but why would they want to if they didn't have to. The answer was they wouldn't. They would save their time, money and energy. Not to mention it would push Voldy into a rage which would mean Crucios all around.

Making his way out the door at the other end when there was no sign of someone behind it, and Harry did check to be certain. The door closed behind him and the room spun. Harry had had enough of the world spinning that was for sure. He despised those doors.

He just wanted out of the ministry and to maybe get a bite to eat. He was also extremely tired. His body was not quite used to all the activity that he was forcing it through though it was better than it had been before he had built the obstacle course. Also, he had almost forgotten how tired life or death situations could make him. Adrenaline was also a wonderful thing. Without it he was sure he would have long ago passed out from sheer exhaustion.

The doors spun once more. Breaking from his musings, Harry opened the door and almost groaned. It was the room with the veil. Of course it was. Just his luck to once more encounter his least favorite room in the whole of the department of mysteries. Harry sighed and then marked it with the flagrate charm. Then he tried again and again. It took him four more tries until he got the correct door. Well, it was less than when he had arrived that was for sure, but for a tired Harry, it was still too many.

Harry walked into the hallway and carefully made his way down it until he reached the door. He was about to reach out and turn the handle when he remembered to check for charms. Even though there hadn't been any on the door when he first came through, he wanted to be careful.

It was a good thing that he had checked as it was covered in alarms. Realizing that he had to have been the one to disarm the alarms for himself, he spent the next ten precious minutes carefully dispelling them. He let himself carefully out the door.

The trip in the elevator to the atrium wasn't very interesting. He got in and hit the correct button, and then several others came and went as he made his way up to his destination. He didn't even recognize anyone that he knew. Walking through the atrium and back past the Fountain of Magical Brethren he went until he reached the spot that he could disaparate from.

Knowing he couldn't go back to his house just yet as he was still there, he instead apparated an alley not far from a small cafe in London that he knew. He was ravenous and decided a spot of tea and a sandwich was in order.

When he got there, he spent the next hour or so just enjoying a cup of tea and a sandwich. A bit refreshed and knowing that his younger self had left, he went back to the alleyway. From there he disaparated back to his home.

When he got there he called for Domina. After she had popped in he told her that he was going to take a nap and not to disturb him until supper unless it was an emergency. She gave him her assent that she understood and that she would pass along the message.

After she had left, Harry took out the prophecy from where it still was in his pocket. Knowing he would feel much better after it was broken and wanting to make sure that old Dumbles hadn't shown him a tampered memory, he threw it to the ground.

A whisp of a person who was clearly Professor Trelawney appeared and began to speak:  
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."

Good. Harry was quite glad that Dumbledore hadn't lied about the exact contents of the prophecy. He still didn't totally trust the man after all he had done in the past or would do, but this took his trust up a notch.

Banishing the remains of the glass sphere, Harry climbed into bed. He then knew no more for a couple of hours as he let his body get some much deserved rest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ANTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, Harry was up and about for supper and what a delicious supper it was. His elves had prepared a hearty dish of spaghetti and meatballs for him. He was enjoying it.

Harry was enjoying himself so much that he decided that he would turn on his wizarding wireless to listen to some music. No sooner had he sat back down though, when the music was interrupted by a nasally voice.

It said, “We interrupt this programming with a special news bulletin. The minster has just released a statement saying that the department of mysteries was broken into earlier today. The thief got away. They don't know who it was or how exactly they got into but they are investigating it. The Unspeakables are doing an inventory in order to see what if anything had been taken. We here question how did a thief break into the most top secret and secure department in the entire ministry? If they can break into that department where else can someone break into? Are the workers safe when they go to work? What is our government doing to correct these problems? We will keep you updated on this story as it develops. Till then on with the music.”  
Harry paused with a forkful of spaghetti halfway to his mouth. He didn't expect the minister to release a statement to the general public. Well, hopefully his break in would inspire better security in the future. He would just have to hope that if they did ramp up security then he would not need to break in there again. That would be even more of a pain than today was.

 

His mood shot, Harry finished up his dinner. He would work out a bit on his obstacle course and then get some more sleep. It would be another busy day the next day. After all, it was time to bury his head in research once again and begin his research into protective spells and enchantments so that he would be ready to go after the ring come the Christmas holidays. Wouldn't that just be so much fun. Not.


	30. Chapter 27 and Interlude 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ring preps and Dobby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks diddleymaz for the help. Thanks for reading. :)

The next day Harry awoke feeling quite refreshed. He still felt like he could sleep for a while longer but he knew that it was not to be. There was too much to do, and not enough time to do it. Not that he was looking forward to it of course, because he wasn't. Not even close.

 

His next task was recon on the Gaunt shack. Sadly, due to the limitations of the duplication spell, he didn't have all of his magic so he didn't dare to actually go after the ring today. That would have to wait until Christmas break at least. Then, he could hopefully slip away unnoticed at some point, and be back before it was noticed that he was gone at all. That was the plan anyway. Not that his plans ever went as they were supposed to as was never more true than the previous day.

Harry sat up in bed and shook his head in disgust. He should have known that there were traps. What sort of mysterious entities would the unspeakables be if they didn't even try to guard their secrets. It was times like this that he really wanted Hermione around. His Hermione. A Hermione that had been through basilisks and re-risen dark lords and battling death eaters with him. A Hermione that he missed every day and who he would never see again.

 

He had been back for almost a year but it was still hard to swallow some days. He would never see the friends that he had grown up with the first time again. Well, he would see them again, but they would never be the same people again. This was a good thing of course, in that they wouldn't have to go through all the terror and heartache that they had gone through the first time. He would still miss them though.

As he dressed for the day, he turned back to the mission at hand. The ring. The day's or rather the evening's task was simple. Apparate to a place not far from the shack and get as close as possible without triggering any traps. Then he would use detection spells to try to figure out which spells were on the place. After he had recorded them all on a piece of parchment, he could research what spells they were and figure out how to counteract them.

He hoped that by Christmas that by he would have come up with a plan that would see him able to bypass or disable them all thereby allowing him access to the ring. This was all to be done without triggering any alert wards or ending up like Dumbledore had originally. Harry would feel really angry and stupid if he were to come all the way back and then die because he had fallen prey to a curse that he knew was coming.

 

Realizing that it was already noonish, Harry made his way to the dining room. He had an afternoon of getting ready for his mission ahead of him and wanted to be well fed first. The elves had no problem with that and soon had him fed. Then Harry went off to get ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ANTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eight o'clock that night found Harry just about ready to go. The sun was getting ready to set and he hoped to be outside the shack about the time that it did. He was well prepared.

 

In his knapsack that he carried, he had a stack of parchment as well as two bottles of ink. He also had his invisibility cloak. He hadn't thought of anything else he would need, but he would certainly be careful. You never knew who was out and about after all.

 

He had charmed himself to look like a blond haired blued eyed youth. He certainly wasn't planning on being seen, but if he was, then he didn't want to be identified. Harry was after all supposedly at the Dursleys.

That was also why he was going just after sunset. At that time it was late enough that it would be hard to see him or even if they did see him then to see what exactly he was doing. It was early enough though that if he was identified as a young person then they wouldn't think it was quite so unusual for him to be out and about. Slinging his bag over his his shoulders, Harry put on the invisibility cloak and disaparated to a road that he had once, years ago, seen in a memory.

 

When he arrived, he looked to make sure there was no one nearby. There wasn't. Slipping off his cloak, he made his way down the lane as Bob Ogden had done more than sixty years previously. Like him, he also made his way cautiously towards the residence that had once held the Gaunts in it.

Harry found that it was even more overgrown then it had been in the memory. It was so overgrown in fact that Harry had walked past it several times, before he even realized that he was. There was clearly a notice me not charm over the area as well as repelling wards, both wizard and muggle.

As soon as Harry realized that he had been walking past a specific point though, he knew where to look and soon found where what was left of the once grand little house stood. As Harry saw it though, it was even more dilapidated than it had been in the memory. That wasn't so surprising really. Nobody had been in residence since Morfin Gaunt had confessed to the murder of the Riddles, after all. Though you would think that Voldemort would have put something up to keep the place in shape enough to protect his horcrux. Though maybe not.

Harry found a spot not far away and sat against the wall. He checked it for charms and and found none before he sat down. After casting a notice me not and muggle repelling charm around himself, he set to work casting identifying charms.

As soon as the first results came back, he knew that that he would be spending more time than expected there. There were layers upon layers charms all over the place. Half of which he didn't have a clue as to what they were and would need to cast further charms to find out.

 

He should have known. Spell repertoire was never his strong suit. He sighed. He didn't like it but he would have to spend time to go through every last bit. This was his one chance to get the knowledge he would need to make his plan so that he could successfully come back over Christmas break and get the stone. He needed to be through whether he wanted to spend so much time on it or not.

 

It certainly didn't help that he also needed sleep and so couldn't spend all night there. Oh well. He got back to work.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ANTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next week and a half went that way. He would go every evening and sit in his spot and try to identify the layers of charms that were on the shack and the surrounding land. Generally casting the spell several times. Then he would cast other spells to try to figure out what some of them were. He also wrote down exactly where they were placed. Also, he tried how they all connected and overlapped. He needed to be sure he would have enough to information to unweave the web of spells when the time came.

 

No later than eleven to eleven thirty he pack up and apparate home where he would sleep till mid to late morning. After working out on the obstacle course, he would take a late lunch. The afternoon was spent trying make sense of the information he was gathering in the evenings. Then it back to the Gaunt shack after a brief supper.

 

In was frustrating and tiring but at the end of that time he was certain he had gotten everything. He wasn't quite sure how it all connected, but spent the remaining two weeks till his birthday trying to figure that out.

His Birthday. This was always a day that in the past that had been marked by unpleasant events. Before his school years, the Dursleys had made sure to make that day unhappy for him. They made sure to ignore him but not ignore him at the same time. They never said or did anything directly to Harry that made it seem like they were trying to be cruel. However when they knew he was in earshot they would say especially pleasant things about Dudley and things along those lines. They made sure to never give any other indication that they knew he was there though.

His birthday's during the school year weren't all bad. His “previous” one had Hagrid come collect him and inform him that he was a wizard after all. The worst one, had been this one when Dobby had shown up and dumped dessert on the Dursley's guests. What were there names? Oh the Masons that's right. The all important Masons.

 

Harry snorted. Not that important. Looking back on it now, it was hilarious. Not so good at the time though.

 

The rest of his birthdays during Hogwarts had been pleasant enough if sad for some of them. He was after all still reeling over the deaths of Cedric or Sirius or Dumbledore after his fourth, fifth, and sixth years respectively. His seventeenth birthday had been especially sad.

In his years during the war though, he had come to hate his birthday though. Voldy always marked the day with some big raid or attack just for him. Harry knew logically that Voldemort was in all likelihood going to do those things anyway, but still. It stung. To know that they were killed on his birthday. He felt that it was partially his fault. He would do everything he could to stop it this time of course. That was why he was there.

Harry wondered, what would happen with Dobby this time. Would he come to him or would he go to his duplicate? He didn't know. Would he even show up at all? How would he know?

He tried not to fret over it, but it was difficult. He hardly touched his breakfast or his lunch. He did manage some time on his obstacle course. However, trying to spend time on the protections guarding the ring was useless. He couldn't focus. By the time supper came around, he wasn't eating anything.

After he was finished, he settled down in the living room to wait for something to happen. He didn't have to wait long. Less than half an hour later, there came a tap tap tap at the window. Getting up, he walked to the window.

 

He retrieved the letter. After giving the owl a treat. He opened the familiar letter which said:

 

Dear Mr. Potter,  
We have received intelligence that a hover charm was used at your place of residence this evening at twelve minutes past nine.  
As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside of school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).  
We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy.  
Enjoy your holidays!  
Yours Sincerely,  
Mafalda Hopkirk  
Mafalda Hopkirk  
Improper Use of Magic Office  
Ministry of Magic

Some things never change. Harry was sure now that things must have gone the same way the had the first time, with Dobby showing up at the Dursley's house. He wondered why the ministry owl came to him, but then realized that owls must be smarter than the ministry's underage magic detectors. The thought made him smile as he fell asleep, promising to himself that he would write his friends in the morning.

Interlude 5

The Harry clone woke up on Harry's birthday also expecting trouble. He had all of the original Harry's memories after all, and had a feeling that it would be up to him to try to diffuse Dobby. He went down to eat his toast.

Then he spent breakfast dutifully chanting back, “I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there.” Another boring morning and rest of the day for that matter. That was of course until right before the dinner party when he made himself scarce.

 

When he got up to his room there was a bulbous eyed, big eared creature who was wearing rags. This was Dobby. Though Dobby didn't know that Harry clone knew who he was and why he was there.

There conversation began much as Harry clone remembered it went for Harry. Dobby introduced himself and they talked a bit about house elves. There was lots of loud noises caused by Dobby punishing himself. He really shouldn't do that. It could hurt him and get Harry clone in trouble like it had for the original Harry.

They then got into the topic of old Voldy and why Dobby idolized Harry. They then got to the reason why Dobby was there. Dobby didn't want Harry going back to school because of the threat of Voldemort's diary though of course he didn't come right out and say that.

There was more noise and an instance where Harry clone had to throw Dobby in the closet in order to hide him. He tried to explain to Dobby that he had to go back to Hogwarts. With additional memories of Dobby floating around in his head he was sure that he would be able to convince him better.

 

“Dobby I have friends I need to go back to.”

“Friends that don't write.” Dobby replied

“Dobby have you been stealing my letters?” Harry clone asked. He was sure that Harry had told them that he wouldn't be able to write them for awhile, but it seems that they wrote anyway.

“Don't be made Harry Potter sir. I thought that if Harry Potter had thought that his friends had forgotten him that he wouldn't go back to Hogwarts.”

“Dobby give me my letters back.”

“No!” Then Dobby took off downstairs.

 

Harry clone should have realized that Dobby was much too determined. He wouldn't give the letters back till Harry agreed to not going.

 

Harry carefully made his way downstairs. “OK. Dobby I won't go back to Hogwarts.”

 

Dobby looked at him and then seemed to tell that he was lying. “I am sorry Harry Potter sir, but it is for your own good.” With that commotion ensued, but in all the hassle a familiar letter didn't show up.

 

Harry clone went to sleep that night wondering if the real Harry got that letter and glad that it didn't go to him. He was in enough trouble as it was.


	31. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of summer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading and sorry for the long wait.

After the presumed fiasco with Dobby, Harry continued to finalize his plans for getting the ring during the Christmas holidays. It was a lot to go through. Luckily Harry had some experience with wards from the times when he was on the run in future that wouldn't be. He had to have had some knowledge of wards to have survived as long as he had after all. They had used them on a daily basis.

At the beginning of their travels, the only one of their group with any know how with runes at all was naturally Hermione, who had taken ancient runes in school. By the end, all the survivors had learned at least a little something about wards however. Harry had learned more that most others as he was one of the last to fall before he was sent back in time to change things. That is not to say that he was an expert, because he wasn't but he was proficient in runes and wards.

It was this foundation that ensured that by the time that he was ready to travel to Diagon Alley, that he was content enough with his progress at finalizing the details of his Christmas break plans. They weren't finished but he was confident that with the week and a half of summer vacation that was left as well as the time that he would be able to scrounge up during the first term of the school year, that it would be done in time.

And so it was that the nineteenth of August of the year nineteen ninety-two rolled around and with it the trip to Diagon Alley that in the original timeline he would have been introduced for the first time to potentially two of the most deadly things that would bother him throughout the year. The first, seemingly lesser of the two evils, was one Gilderoy Lockhart. This was the inept wizard with an ego the size of Hogwarts and an aptitude for driving people insane with the inane drivel that would spew from his mouth. The man who would be their so called professor who was annoying to the point of insanity and who had a proclivity for memory charms. He who was once again having a book signing that day.

The other evil was of course one of old Moldy's most prized possessions, though if it was so prized then Harry still wasn't quite sure why he left it with Malfoy instead of locking it up tight, his diary horcrux. A diary that, if things remained the same, Lucius would be slipping into the cauldron of an unsuspecting Ginny Weasley during a visit to Flourish and Blotts. This unremarkable looking little book was Harry's goal for the day as he had gotten most of his required supplies weeks before.

Harry had known from the first time around what he would need for class this year so it was simple for him to pick his stuff up from the alley on a day that would not be so crowded as it was sure to be on the day of the book signing. So Harry got all his books except for the rubbish that was Lockhart's fiction. He was bound and determined not to waste his money on that rubbish that did not have any true information in it anyway. It's not like anything they would do in the class that year would be counted anyway, not when it mattered as Lockhart was teaching. The only reason to possibly get it would be to satisfy Hermione who would be sure to nag him about it, but it would be worth it.

To get ready to go, he once again changed his appearance to match that of his Matt Baskin persona. Pulling on a plain pair of black robes and black cloak with hood, he apparated to an alley not far from the Leaky Cauldron. Briskly making his way through the pub, with just a sideways glance from Tom the barman, he made his way towards Flourish and Blotts.

As with most things in his life these days, Harry had a plan. In this case, it was simple, wait not far from Flourish and Blotts and do a slight of hand trick that he had picked up from his time on the run. When they had moved among the muggles, at times they needed things to survive, mainly money as they no longer had access to any bank. They learned, from Hermione's recollection of TV she had seen as child, how to be pickpockets. It wasn't something Harry had ever been proud of, but as most things they did during the war, it was something they needed to learn in order to survive.

Harry had planned to put those skills to the test now. As soon as he saw Lucius and Draco moving towards Flourish and Blotts, he would casually rush past brushing up against the elder Malfoy, grabbing the diary from Lucius's pocket in the process. He was aware of the potential faults of that plan. For instance, what if his pockets were enchanted against theft, or what if he noticed Harry trying to steal from him. It was a chance he was willing to take though, in order to get the diary.

Also as with most things in Harry's life, he ended up making up modifications to his plan on the fly as it were. For as he showed up in the alley, he noticed the Malfoys apparating in. It wasn't just Malfoy elder and junior there though. With them, handing something to Lucius before popping away though was... “Dobby.” breathed Harry out softly.

After all the little guy had done for him in his past life, Harry couldn't give up a chance to potentially get him freed. Modifying his plan as he went along, Harry pulled up his cloak hood and followed the Malfoy's to their destination, Borgin and Burkes. This was the site that Harry had stumbled across the previous time through his life. It was still creepy, but Harry had seen worse in the days since.

During the time the Malfoys were inside, Harry quickly made adjustments to his new plan. He placed a notice-me-not charm on himself as well as used a voice deepening charm. Using a sticking charm, he stuck the top of his cloak to his head. He knew that even if his hood did fall off that no one would recognize him as Harry Potter, but he wanted to be doubly sure. He also used a silencing charm so as that he would not be heard when he eventually moved. With that all set, he lay in wait for the pair to exit the premises.

It was no more than fifteen minutes after Harry had settled in for the wait that the duo began to exit with Lucius sauntering out first and Draco scampering behind him. Balanced on the balls of his feet so as to dodge quickly, Harry shot a quick stupefy so as to incapacitate Draco. It worked and it was a good thing that Harry was ready to dodge for dodge he had to do. Lucius wasn't one of old Voldy's inner circle for nothing as he was quick on the drawl. Where Harry had previously stood was a black mark on the brick wall.

Harry watched as Lucy cautiously eyed his surrounding with distaste and displeasure. He was clearly waiting for his attacker to make their presence known as he moved slowly towards his son. Lightly Harry walked towards Lucius and as he bent downwards to revive his son, Harry made his move.

Moving forward to press his wand into the back of his neck, he felt Malfoy tense. “I wouldn't do anything if I were you.” He said with his voice coming out hoarse.

“Who do you think you are? Do you know who I am?” Lucius replied back with venom lacing his voice.

“Of course, you're Lucius Malfoy. Grandest prat in all the Wizengamot and death-eater extraordinaire.” Harry replied. Lucius seemed quite happy through the first part but by the end he was tense.

“I was acquitted.” He ground out.

“Sure but acquitted doesn't mean the charges weren't true. Now. Stand up.” Harry said forcefully.

“I will have you arrested for this.” Lucius said in the same tone of voice as before.

“Yah sure, if you can find me. Now you will do exactly as I say or loose your head, got it?” Lucius said nothing.

“I said do you understand me?” Harry said pressing his wand harder into the base of Lucius's skull.

“I understand.” Lucius said through gritted teeth.

“Good. First empty your pockets.” Lucius didn't move.

“I said empty them.”

Lucius complied. A coin purse and black book were pulled from his pockets. “Now hand it over.” With this command Lucius paled and tried to give him just the money.

“The book too.” Lucius reluctantly complied.

“Now call Dobby.”

“I know no Dobby.” replied Lucius stiffly.

“Oh really. So you don't have a house elf named Dobby?” Lucius stiffened. “Now call him. No wait, as soon as you call him, I want you to give him your glove.” Lucius stiffened further.

“Yes, you will free him or I will lop your head off and then your son's as well, and don't try to double cross me or we shall see who is faster.”

“Dobby.” called Lucius. As a pop echoed Lucius tossed a glove in its direction. As soon as Harry had seen Dobby catch the glove, he stunned Lucius Malfoy.

Dobby looked to the glove for a moment then whispered, “Dobby is free. Thank you sir.” Harry nodded and waved off the thanks.

“If yous ever needs Dobbys just lets Dobbys know.” and with that Dobby popped away.

Harry shook his head slightly. Same old Dobby.

With that he used erased all traces of his presence from the mind of Lucius as well as the memory of the diary. After quickly ennerving the pair he popped back home where he was able to use his basilisk venom infused dagger to sever the diary's ties to mortality. One more down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ANTTMP~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of Harry's summer was much like the previous few weeks had been with Harry tweaking his plans to go and get the ring, and before Harry knew it was time to start his second year for the second time.


	32. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Thanks for reading. :) If you like this story please go vote for it at inkitt dot com slash contests. Special thanks go to Love4Spock for pointing out a plot hole and to my brother and sister in law for helping me fix said plothole.

On the morning of September the first nineteen ninety-two, Harry Potter woke up early. He knew he had plenty of time in order to make it to the train before it left, but he had something very important to do first. That something was to go and get his clone first. Even with the threat of Riddle and the basilisk neutralized, he would like to have all of his power consolidated for facing the new year.

He also needed to contact Dobby. As he had gone to sleep the previous night he had realized something. After his encounter with Lucius, he had wiped the encounter from his mind so as to not be remembered, but then he had done something stupid that the purebloods and wizard raised did too often. He had forgotten about the house elf. Though Harry knew that even if and when Dobby told someone about how he was freed that it was unlikely that he would even be considered much less found out to be the culprit. It could however lead to some unexpected consequences that he would have to deal with. Consequences that he would rather avoid if at all possible. Especially if Dobby ended up telling Dumbledore who would be determined to look into anything suspicious.

Therefore, the first order of the day was to contact Dobby or rather figure out how to contact Dobby and then talk to him into working for him. That could work. If he employ him before Dumbledore could then there would be no reason for Dumbledore to ever meet him. No meeting, then Dumbledore would have not the opportunity nor the reason to question Dobby.

Mind made up, he decided to call Domina and talk to her about how he would go about finding the house elf. He would also have to ask her how she felt about another elf coming to join what Harry was quickly coming to see as his family. If she and the other elves weren't happy about it then he would have to find another way. He was sure that he would be able to make her see that he was not hiring him because he thought that they were not doing their jobs properly. Elves were quite sensitive to such things after all. It might be harder to get them to respect Dobby though. He remembered the disdain that the Hogwarts elves had treated him to all the time.

"Domina!" called Harry to the air that surrounded him, still feeling a little weird for doing so even if he knew that Domina could hear him.

"Yes masters Harry Potters sirs." said Domina with a cheery salute.

"Firstly, no need to salute." Domina quickly nodded. "Secondly, how would you feel about another elf joining the household?"

Just as Harry feared she started to get a bit teary. "Dos wes not do stuff to master Harry's liking. Wes cans do better. Wes can."

"Domina. Domina." Harry said kneeling down in order to better calm her down. "You guys are the best."

Crying a bit Domina squeakily said, "Then why? If we is such good elves, why brings in a new one?"

"It is not that you guys need help, it is that well, I need your help."

"Our help masters harry sirs?" poor Domina looked so nonplussed.

"Yes you see there is the elf that I met, a free elf mind." Domina looked scandalized. "Yes, I know, he is a bit crazy, but he had a horrible master and needed a new home. See I need you to look after him for me. Do you think you can do that?" Harry looked at her seriously.

"Oh yes masters Harrys sirs. Wes cans dos that. You cans count on us." She said jumping up and down wildly.

"I knew you could. I have another question."

"What is it? What cans Domina bes doing for you?" She asked eagerly.

"Well, you see, I need to contact this other house elf, and I am not sure how to? If I call for him, will he show up even though we are not bonded?"

"Maybe masters Harrys sirs? If you freed him, he might. Free elves are bad like that." Domina did indeed look peeved at the thought.

"Ah. Kay. That make things easier. Thank you so much for your help."

"Of course Masters Harrys sirs." she bowed low to the ground so that her nose was almost touching the floor.

"Would you like to stay as I call him or come back afterwords to introduce yourself?" Harry asked her.

She seemed to think for a moment and then replied with, "Mes thinks I shalls comes back later."

Harry nodded. "Very well, I will call for you when I need you."

Domina bowed once again and then left to go clean the breakfast plates, but ready to come back at a moments notice.

Taking a breath and stealing himself to deal with the excitable elf, Harry called out, hoping it would work, "Dobby!"

For a moment he didn't think it had worked and called was preparing himself to call out to the elf once again when he heard a pop.

"Yous be calling Dobby. Whys yous be calling Dobby? I don't know you?" Dobby said his hand outstretched clearly ready to defend himself if Harry turned out to be hostile.

Just as Harry was about to explain, Dobby seemed to recognize him. "Wait, The Great Harry Potter sirs calls for Dobby! Why does he do that. And where is he?" Dobby really did look puzzled.

Harry had forgotten that Dobby had to have encountered his clone earlier in the summer. Now Harry was not quite sure what to say or how to explain or even how much he could explain, but he figured that he would have to wing it as he somehow usually ended up doing.

"Well, you see Dobby it is a long story..." Harry started, but just as he was about to continue, Dobby fell to the floor clutching his head.

"Dobby! Dobby!" Harry panicked a bit. He was so worried. What had happened to his friend. He had a sudden flashback as he ran towards his friend and cradled him in his arms. He saw Dobby with a knife sticking out of his chest. A knife thrown at them by one Bellatrix Lestrange.

"No. That won't happen again. Dobby stay with me." Harry began to tear up.

"Harry Potter sir." Dobby looked at him with what looked like a different sort of recognition than before. A look that held reverence and appreciation and friendship. Then he passed out.

"Dobby!" Harry yelled.

"Don't worry Harry. Dobby is fine." Harry didn't even bother to whip out his wand or even look up really as he recognized the voice. Really he shouldn't be surprised at this point.

"Two visits in one summer. I don't know whether I should be scared or flattered." Harry said as he still looked at Dobby, who was now that he thought about it clearly just knocked out.

"Flattered I should hope with maybe just a smidge of being scared. I do have a reputation as a grim reaper to protect after all." said a brightly smiling Acara.

Harry tried to covertly wipe his tears as he finally looked up at her. Acara's smile lessened a little as she saw the look of anger on his face, clearly taken aback, having not expected him to get mad.

"Explain." said Harry tartly.

"No need to get testy, Harry dear." Acara said, whipping her long braided hair around to the back of her head.

Taking a seat on the table top, the grim reaper, for once decked out in stereotypical grim reaper black cloak, blouse and slacks, she crossed her legs and looked to begin. "Well, you see we, at headquarters, recently found out a problem."

"What sort of problem?" Asked Harry warily. Problems always turned out to make things worse for him after all.

"Well, it seems, Stephen's meddling went back even further than we had we had thought."

"Really?" Harry asked, going a bit pale. Yet, worse for him.

"Yes, it seems Dobby here was not meant to die after the encounter with Bellatrix at Malfoy Manor. He was meant to live to help Kreature lead the house elves of Hogwarts to victory at the Battle of Hogwarts."

"What happened?" Harry asked her, unsure where this was going exactly.

"Stephen spoke to Bellatrix's subconscious of course. He convinced her that Dobby was going to take her 'toy', " here she sneered at the word toy clearly disgusted with the thought of anyone thinking of any living being as a toy. "away. He convinced her to throw her knife."

"Why did this make such a difference though?" asked Harry as he was still confused as to where she was going with this.

"Overall, it didn't make a huge difference. Even with Dobby there, Voldemort still would have fled due to his other meddling. However, he would have fled with less death eaters if Dobby had lived, as he and Kreature would have split the house elf forces between them, leading to a more effective attack strategy."

"I still don't see where this is going?" said Harry headily.

"Well, Harry if you will hold on, I will get there." She glared him into silence. "As I said, we recently found this out and we decided to exploit the loophole that this granted us. Instead of just telling you this and letting you save him as you are planning to do the others, we decided you could use a little covert help."

Seeing he was about to ask another question or two she continued, "Before you ask, he hid the timeline deviance well from us as it was just minor enough that it was able to be covered up fairly easily. So it was only as we were going over our own records once again that we caught it. 

"As to why we have sent Dobby back to help you instead of one of your friends, well only one can be sent back per interference and it must be the linchpin as it were to the situation. Voldemort's being convinced to run away from the battle instead of facing you meant it was you we had to wait for to send back. Bellatrix being convinced to send the knife and killing Dobby in the process means it was him that we had to send back. Plus think of it. Think of what help he could be. A house elf you trust and who knows and trusts you in return. Think of what you could do together."

"So you sent Dobby back with his memories as you sent me back?" Harry asked.

"Yes indeed. He is here to help."

Harry smiled for the first time during the conversation. He had one of his friends back. He was glad to see all of his friends in this knew timeline, don't get him wrong, but it would be good to have someone to talk the future over with. He hadn't realized how much he had missed it until that moment.

Realizing he had gotten lost in his thoughts, Harry looked up to thank Acara, only to realize that she had already left. Shaking his head slightly in amusement.

He looked down, only to realize Dobby was awake. "Dobby..." Harry said a bit breathlessly. He then proceeded to give him a hug.

"Harry Potter sirs." Dobby hugged back enthusiastically.

After a moment, Harry came back to himself and cast the tempus charm. Cursing as he realized that he was running late, he turned to Dobby. "I am sorry Dobby, much as I would like to reminisce, I have to cut our reunion short. I have places I need to be. Has Acara explained everything to you?"

"Yes Harry Potter sirs."

"Good. Now I would like to hire you for the same amount that you got at Hogwarts. Understand."

"Yes Harry Potter sirs."

"Good. Now. We can talk later. For now I have a task to do and then a train to catch. Listen to the other elves. Got it."

Dobby nodded enthusiastically. "Good. Domina!" Harry introduced them and sent them on their way. This day was going better than he thought it would. Now to fetch his duplicate.

~~~~~~~~~~~ANTTMP~~~~~~~~~~

Landing in an alley not far from number four, an invisible Harry looked around with a grimace. Just as dreary as he remembered it. He felt kind of bad for his clone.

He made way to where he could see his clone looking out the window, clearly miserable. He would have to do something about that for next summer. Carefully and hoping that it would work. He cast the reversal spell.

Stumbling as he felt his power return to him, he glanced up to see the smoke the spell had created, floating out the window. Good evidence gone, now for the Dursleys.

Still invisible, Harry pulled the hood of his school cloak up and kept it there with a sticking charm. After using a voice changing charm, he disaparated straight into the Dursley's living room, making them all jump in fright.

"Dursleys!" Harry bellowed.

Quickly overcoming his shock, Vernon yelled, "Come out where we can see you you freak and then get out of our home."

"No can do Vernon. Not till I make something very clear."

"I said get out you freak!" Vernon said going even more purple if that was possible.

Harry sent him backwards with just enough force for him to hit his head but not to knock him out. He wanted him to hear his message after all.

"We have seen the way you have treated Harry this summer and we do not like it. He is on his way to school now. If you are smart you will be kinder to him come next summer, or I will be back. Understand."

Vernon looked ready to argue so Harry used a spell that made him feel like he had been punched in the gut.

"I asked if you understood me." Harry growled. He didn't like the Dursleys but he didn't want to hurt them too badly either.

Luckily it finally seemed as if he got his point across. "We'll be better." Petunia said, finally speaking up. "Just don't come back."

Glad to have gotten his point across Harry said, "I won't as long as you keep your end of the deal."

"We will." Petunia said, clearly terrified.

Satisfied, Harry apparated to platform nine and three quarters. After reversing his voice changing charm, he dropped his sticking and disillusionment charms, and stepped out of the shadows, just in time to catch the train to his second, second year at Hogwarts.


	33. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the train agin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything that you recognize. Thanks for reading and happy holidays. :)

Hoping onto the train, Harry went looking for his friends. He was sure that they would already be on there somewhere. Dealing with the Dursleys had him running extremely late after all, much later than the previous year. He was not happy with it, but he felt better for having dealt with his clone's problems. It was his saving people thing kicking in again. Even though his clone was actually a part of him, it had felt like the clone was a different person while the clone was outside of him. Still did in fact. It was sort of surreal really. He didn't absorb what the clone saw and experienced after all. So while he knew 'he' was at the Dursleys, he didn't remember being there.

Anyway, he was glad to had made things easier, and was looking forward to seeing his friends after what had been a very long summer. It was made longer without any contact with his friends. Harry found it almost weird that he was thinking of school as like a vacation. After all, Viride would not be petrifying anyone so that should make for a quiet year for once. 

The main things to deal with would be the DA, as well as helping his friends with Occlumency. He also planned on making friends with Luna and Ginny and hopefully help Malfoy become more tolerable. Relationships. That is what most of this year boiled down to. Oh and dealing with Lockhart which should be fun. He would have to get with the twins and plan some pranks. He was looking forward to that though not with dealing with him in classes and trying to drag him off to give him advice on fame. Harry rolled his eyes. Really.

He would also have to deal with the ring over Christmas break which would be a challenge in and of itself. Harry was sure though that that would be a welcome break from the monotony of classes at that point though. Classes would get boring fast after all.

Yeah. This would be a weird year. Harry was positive of that. A good weird though. He broke out of his thoughts as he found the compartment that housed Hermione and Neville.

As soon as he opened the compartment door he was knocked immediately backwards. It took him a moment to realize that it was a Hermione shaped missile that had jumped at him. As soon as he realized that, it stopped. He then had to stop himself from gasping out loud as she punched him hard in the shoulder. Dang! He knew after third-year that she had a solid punch and he certainly never wanted to be on the end of it again.

"What was that for?" He asked as he rubbed his shoulder, trying, and failing to rub away the lingering pain.

"For not writing us of course! I thought something had happened to you or that you went away and weren't going to come back... or well that..." here she looked towards the floor and scuffed her foot.." you didn't want to be friends anymore." She looked liked she was going to cry.

"Oh Hermione." He went up and hugged her. "I will always be your friend. I am sorry for worrying you. I will try not to do so again."

She looked up at him and through her tears a glint came into her eyes which she proceeded to wipe off, "You better not Harry James Potter." She smiled then, and he smiled back.

Taking a seat Harry asked, "So besides being mad at me, how was you two's summers?"

Hermione then proceeded to launch into the details of the trip that her and her family had taken that summer. Harry nodded at all the appropriate times and made all the right comments. He remembered her telling him about her trip the last time through his second year. Hermione did seem to take a lot of trips with her parents, mostly in their early school years, before the war. After that she was with Ron and himself much too early in the summer for her to be able to travel much, not that it was really safe to anyway.

Maybe he should take a trip sometime. It would certainly be nice. In his life he had never really had time for any of that sort of stuff. Much too busy with a war going on and everything. Something to look forward to in the future anyway

"Harry. Harry!" harry was jolted out of what he realized was daydreaming by Hermione yelling at him.

"Hmm. Oh. Sorry Hermione. I just got lost in thought." Harry said trying to appease her.

She didn't look very appeased and indeed still looked rather angry once again. "Were you even listening to anything I said?" she asked.

"Well. Yes. You went on a trip with your parents and had a marvelous time." Harry responded back to her.

"Well, yes." she pouted a bit.

"Oh come on Hermione. It does sound like so much fun. I would love to go see other places someday." Harry said.

"Really? Where?" Hermione asked.

"Anywhere really. I've never been outside the UK before. Though the way you describe France, it sounds like it could be interesting to see someday."

"Oh it was and the cuisine was delicious. Maybe next time we go I could convince my parents to take you along." Hermione said.

"I'd like that a lot Hermione. I don't know whether I would be allowed to, but It would nice of you to ask." He smiled at her, then turned to Neville. "So, Nev, Anywhere you would like to see someday?"

Neville seemed to think for a while but then came up with, "The amazon would be a cool place to visit. I read this book once dealing with south American plants and it mentioned how the amazon rainforest is home to some of the most diverse plants in the entire world. I hope to study them someday." He said the last sentence in a murmur as if afraid that they would make fun of him for it."

"Wow that's cool Nev" Harry said with enthusiasm. He knew of course that Neville liked plants but he didn't know that He already had a plan about what to do about it this early in his life. "So do you want to study just plants from the Amazon or all plants? I mean I knew you liked Herbology but I didn't know that you already knew what you wanted to do something to do with it when we eventually graduate."

Neville seemed to perk up when they both looked at him interested rather than like they wanted to laugh at him. "Well, all plants are interesting so any and all would be fun to study, but if I could just go and see the plants in the amazon once that would be fun."

"That does sound interesting Neville. Perhaps we should make up a list of all the places that we would like to go someday and go there together." Hermione added her two sense into the conversation.

"Sounds like something to add to my list of things to do this year." Harry agreed.

"Speaking of things to do this year, " Hermione began, "Are we going to continue our Occlumency training Harry?" 

"Yeah. I certainly don't see why not Hermione. You both have been practicing I hope."

Neville nodded as Hermione said, "Well yes of course. I don't know how good I am yet though I do suppose I must have made some sort of progress. I can't see how I couldn't have. I have practiced every day before bed."

"I am sure you're doing fine Mione. You haven't overworked yourself I hope."

"No of course not. My parents wouldn't let me. If I zoned out too much they would shake me awake." She looked upset about that.

"That is good Hermione. I don't want you overworking yourself too much okay?" 

She nodded reluctantly. "How about you Neville?" Harry asked.

"I'm doing okay I think. Though like Hermione, I don't know for sure. I have practiced most days before bed though, like you said to do."

"Good. I am sure you are doing fine. We can practice after the snack lady comes through which should be soon." Harry said just as a knock sounded at the door.

"Anything off the trolley dear?" asked the trolley lady.

Harry looked at them like I told you so and then proceeded to get some cauldron cakes, licorice wands, chocolate frogs, and sugar free stuff for Hermione. He gave them some and got thanks in return.

"Hey guys, before we get started with Occlumency, I need to run to the loo." After getting acknowledgment that they heard, Harry left the compartment and proceeded to said loo.

On the way back he happened to look into the compartment with two familiar faces in it. Smiling to himself, he decided to stop, and so he slid open the door to the compartment.

"Hey Gin." Harry said. "How was your summer?" A moment later when she didn't respond. He said, "Gin." she looked rather angry with him. He sighed. "I think this is mad at Harry day. What did I do Gin. Ginny?" She was still ignoring him. In fact she looked pointedly away from him.

"You didn't return her letters." said the other familiar face in the compartment looking up from her magazine. "She told me that you never responded to them. I told her that the wizzlebins took them, but she didn't believe me."

Harry winced. How could he have forgotten that that would be her reaction to him not responding to his letters. Of course, just like his other friends, she would think he would have forgotten her and would be angry.

"Thank you miss.."

"Luna. Luna Lovegood." she said in her usual dreamy voice.

"Well, thank you for reminding me that I need to make an appologie Luna. My name is Harry Potter."

"Of course Harry Potter. You know you don't have any nargles around you?"

"Really? That is good to know Luna thanks. How would you and Gin like to come back to my compartment? I was just about to show my other friends some cool magic and I would like to teach you too."

"Really? You want me to come?" She asked clearly, at least to Harry, a bit startled.

"Yes really."

"I would like that very much, Harry Potter." She smiled at him dreamily.

He turned round to Ginny to apologize to find her looking at him. "You really mean that about teaching us magic?" She asked.

"Yes. I mean it."

"Well, alright, but don't think you are off the hook. You will explain." She said whilst getting up.

"I wouldn't dream of it Ginny. I still owe Neville and Hermione an explanation anyway."

Ginny said goodbye to her friends as Harry didn't know if they would be back in time for them to grab them once they were done. Then Harry proceeded to lead them back to his compartment.

"Harry what took you?" Hermione asked as they came in.

"I ran into a couple of friends Hermione. Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom, meet Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood."

Hellos were said all round. "You know you have lots of nargles in your ears Hermione."

"Excuse me?"

Before Hermione could get worked up Harry diffused the situation but whispering to Neville and Hermione, "Look Hermione, I know what you are going to say but to Luna nargles do exist and who know maybe they are real and Luna is just special who knows. Just please. I know she can be a bit weird but she's smart too and really nice so leave her be okay?"

Hermione backed down. Ginny chose that moment to speak up, "So I believe you owe us an explanation about missing letters." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Darn. Harry really had hoped that she had forgotten, but he should have know better.

"Well. You see, someone was stealing my mail."

"What" came several shouts all at once.

"Yeah. I got it all sorted out now though. It won't happen again."

"It better not Potter. When I write someone I expect them to write back." Came the unexpected voice of Draco Malfoy behind him.

"Ah Draco, I hoped you would come by. No Crabbe or Goyle I see." Said Harry jovially as he turned around.

"No well, they don't follow me everywhere you know." He said a tad haughtily.

Harry laughed. "Yeah I know. Just most places. Well don't just stand there come on in. We were just about to work on Occlumency, and the more the merrier I say."

Draco reluctantly did and took the last seat available. Harry instructed Neville and Hermione to meditate while he went over the basics with the three newcomers. They spent the rest of the ride this way, mediating and forging the beginning of a shield.

It was not long after that they arrived to Hogsmeade and Draco had to leave to get his trunk. The three second years then proceeded to separate from the younger two as they headed towards the carriages and the youngest to see Hagrid and the boats.

Pausing a moment to let the other two get in first, Harry took a moment to pet the thestral with a sad look. Yes indeed he was able to see them unlike in his original second year. He had seen way too many people die after all. "Not this time." Harry whispered to the thestral. He would stick to his plans. Shaking his head from his thoughts he answered Hermione's call to get in the carriage, and before he knew it he was in the great hall settling in for the opening feast.

He watched as the first years were led in by McGonagall. Then he listened to the sorting hat's song for the first time as he was being berated by Snape at this point in the last timeline.

Another year begins today  
Another sorting to be had  
You put me on and you will find.  
Out the color in which you'll be clad

The sorting hat is what I'm called  
I've been here for so long  
You put me on and we shall see  
The place that you belong

To Gryffindor you might go  
The house of the scarlet and the gold  
There you will find  
The chivalrous and the bold

In Hufflepuff is those  
That are robed in the yellow and the black  
Loyalty and friendship abound  
In this place that will not slack

Those that call Slytherin home  
Walk round in the green and the silver  
They all have cunning and ambition  
To reach their goals from here on after

Finally those in Ravenclaw  
Go about in the bronze and the blue  
Knowledge is what they seek   
And they have cleverness too

The time is now  
No reason to be shy  
Just pull me on  
And give the sorting hat a try

Harry clapped along with his fellows and wondered would Luna and Ginny's sorting stay the same or would they go some place else?


	34. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you recognize. Sorry for the short chapter. thanks for reading. :)

Harry was actually kind of excited to see a sorting for the first time in what felt like forever to him, but was in actuality since like his orginal first year. He would actually get to see this group get sorted for the first time, wondered where his friends would be sorted. Would they go to the same place or would it be different? He was not entirely sure. One thing he did know was that the sorting hat was loosing it. What kind of song was that?

He turned his attenton back to the sorting as professor McGonagall started to call out names. It was only then that he realized how few people he had acutually gotten to know in his previous life. Name after name that the professor called, he did not recognize. These students were only a year younger than him. Some were only a few months younger. How was it that he did not know recognize their names. He would have to be sure to change that.

The first name that Harry recogonized was Colin Creevey who looked just as excitable as ever. Luckily, Harry knew that he Colin was a Gryffindor through and through. He would never go anywhere el..."Hufflepuff!" yelled the hat at that moment.

Outside, Harry clapped along with the rest of his house. Inside though, he was cringing. He had hoped that he wouldn't have to deal with Colin again. Not that Colin was bad, he was actually one of the bravest people that Harry had ever met. It was just that he was so annoying. Harry had to admit though. He was a lovable annoying, though. Harry's house must have affected Colin's house more than he originally thought it had as it was clear that Colin had pushed to be in the same house as Harry. The hat wouldn't have put him there if he didn't fit there though.

Turning back to the sorting, they soon got to "Lovegood, Luna". Would she be sorted into Ravenclaw once again. In a way, Harry hoped not as she was greatly bullied there last time and so was quite miserable. At the same time, he was hoping that if she did get sorted there that Hermione would be able to keep an eye on her. No matter what was to happen, he would look after Luna. She had been a very good friend in his last life all the way to her death.

She was quite a while under the hat and people were starting to murmur and whisper as she approached hatstall status of which Harry was still not sure whether he had been one himself or not. Either way, he was quite sure that he knew what Luna was going through. The hat really did like to debate, perhaps a bit too much.

Finally, "Ravenclaw!" was announced by the hat, and Harry clapped along with eveyone else, though he still wasn't sure that that was the right descision. He did supposse though that despite all the trouble she encountered in the house of blue and bronze she still fit there quite well. 

Her dreamy nature hid a brilliant mind that could see things in a way that no one else in the world could. She would get eaten alive had she gone to Slytherin. And while she could be brave when the occasion called for it and could be loyal to friends once she realized they really were friends, she was first and foremost a dreamer who had brilliant thoughts and so the hat had put her in her true house even if othere pettier members of that house didn't like that fact.

Harry was glad to see Hermione scoot over so that Luna could sit next to her. He just hoped that she didn't end of driving Hermione insane by the end of the meal. Luna's ideas could get quite zany at times after all. Hermione would protect her though. Harry smiled at them and then returned his attention to the sorting.

The next name that Harry recognized was Romilda Vane, the girl who poisoned Ron with Love potion while trying to get Harry to go out with her. That was in his original sixth year of course and here she was a small bouncy child who was clearly dissapointed when the hat called out Gryffindor. She gave a longing look towards Harry which was actually kind of creepy coming from the eleven year old version of the girl who Harry knew was capable of slipping love potion into his food items. He would have to keep an eye out. No need to another incident like that if he didn't have to.

Finally they came to "Weasley, Ginevra". Harry waited with baited breath. He was almost positive that she would stay a Gryffindor, but he had been sure with Colin too and he had been completely wrong. Ginny might try to talk her way into Hufflepuff as well, though Harry thought she was much better suited to Gryffindor.

Sure enough he soon heard, "Gryffindor!" though it did seem to take a moment or two longer than the first time if Harry was not mistaken. Harry clapped once again and when she looked his way, he smiled and waved. She smiled back and made her way to where here brothers were cheering for her from the Gryffindor table.  
The sorting was soon over and Dumbledore stood up and started the feast with a wave of his hands and a signal to the house elves of, " Time to eat." Conversation was soon flying forth around the table. Lots of How was your summer ? Mine was fine. Discussing new haircuts and generally how different each other looked. It was the same around Harry.

He generally stayed out of it. There wasn't much he could tell of his summer after all. Also, if Dumbledore or Snape were to look into their minds for some reason or other, he didn't want them seeing anything that would not correlate with him having a miserable summer at the Dursley's.

It was with this in mind that he told them he spent it at home with his relatives, and that it was quite boring. After while of bland answers, they left him alone. Harry did keep an ear open to the conversation around him.

Soon, the desserts went back to the kitchen, and Dumbledore stood up to addess the students once again. "Welcome back everyone, and to our new students, welcome. A few notices and then you may head off to bed. Firstly, check with Mr. Filch for all banned items. Quidditch tryouts will be posted in the common room. And finally, to fill the post of Defense against the dark arts, we have Professor Gilderoy Lockheart." At this the pompous git stood up and waved grandly. He just looked rediculous to Harry.

"Yes, welcome Gilderoy. Now off to bed." With that students started filing out. Harry found he was actually looking forward to what the year would bring.


	35. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry thinks about what to do with Lockheart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter. I am having a hard time figuring out what to do with Lockheart. I got a basic idea planned now though. Send me your ideas for pranks if you like. I wrote the beginning of the prequel. Please check it out. As always I don't own anything you recognize and thanks for reading. :)

That night Harry was very glad that he was male. He could only imagine what the girls of the school were thinking. He remembered his first time through after all. All the girls would fawn over him, and some of the guys too. Luckily he roomed with twelve year old males who didn't care for Lockheart almost as much as he didn't. He could only imagine how sappy they were getting in the girls dorms. Oh yes this year would not be fun with him around.

Maybe he could have a little fun with it though. After all, the git would try to bring him into the spotlight. He could use that. In addition to spreading how much of an incompetent idiot the doofus was it would also make a fool of him. How to go about it?

When Harry got back to his dorm, he sat down and thought. What pranks could he play on the dumbo who he had for a professor? He was his father's son after all and it was time for him to live up to that part of his heritage. He wouldn't be a bully though. Never a bully.

While the other boys slept, he made a plan. A list if you will, he had been making a lot of those lately, of pranks he could play. Yes he wouldn't get the better of him this time. He would show him why he was almost put into Slytherin. List made, he turned off his lumos and went to sleep.


	36. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Breakfast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything you you recognize. Sorry for the long wait. It has been a hard past year. I am going to try to get back into the swing of things. Enjoy :)

The next morning Harry woke up with a clear plan in mind or at least the beginnings of a clear plan. He would not let Lockhart mess up what would hopefully be an uneventful year. After all there was no way that Ginny would be writing in Riddle's diary, get possessed, open up the chamber and set Viride loose on the school. It just wasn't a feasible idea considering that the diary was destroyed and he visited Viride regularly. She would tell him if anyone strange came around. And if she did end up controlled he was sure to realize it right?

Harry sighed to himself. Sure. Normal year. That was how it would end being he was sure because fate just loved him. He rolled his eyes. Yeah right. He was fate's favorite chew toy. He could hope though. He would keep thinking that way till something happened.

Grabbing a quick shower, he changed into his school uniform and was just finishing tying his tie as his roommates were beginning to stir. Normally he would he go run first but he was actually running a little late after up a little bit last night to work on his plans for Lockhart, he had ended up falling asleep a little later he usually did. He also wanted to be the first of his friends (and hopefully soon to be friends once again).

It was quiet enough as he wondered up from the area around the kitchen where the Hufflepuff common room and dorms were located to the great hall. As he had hoped, the great was basically deserted and none of his friends were there yet. His decision of where to sit made the night before, he made his way to the middle of the Ravenclaw table and sat down.

Just as he was doing that, the food arrived. Harry happily grabbed some fruit, eggs, and of course bacon. He was almost sure that Hedwig would be showing up at some point during and if he didn't have any he would have a very angry companion on his hands. That was never fun. His hands hurt in memory of the last time that happened.

He was just starting on his meal when Hermione wandered in with, as he had hoped, Luna trailing behind her Hermione holding her hand all the way. Harry could tell behind Luna's airy facade that she was scared an unsure. It was clear that Hermione was trying very hard to show that she was her friend. It was easier said than done, Harry knew. Like Hermione, Luna had always been different and been made fun of. Also like Hermione, she put up a mask to avoid being hurt. While Hermione's mask consisted of a bookworm unconcerned with what her peers thought of her, Luna's was of a dreamy airhead who was slightly insane. Harry had several years of seeing behind her mask though. While Luna died in the explosion at Hogwarts, Harry had still spent enough time around her to know her feelings right at the moment.

One of his missions this year was to make her feel included in the group and let her know that she had friends in him and his friends. He would bring her out of her shell.

Harry waved the two girls over, Luna hesitated but not for long as Hermione still had a hold of her hand. They settled around him Hermione at least started grabbing some breakfast. After a moment, Luna did as well.

"Morning ladies, so how was your night? Did you get settled in Luna?" Harry asked as he went back to his breakfast.

"Oh yes Harry, I did have a bit of trouble as I am excited for classes to begin. I can't wait for Defense...." and here Harry began to tune her out as she started going on about the blond menace. Harry really could not help it. He knew that when Hermione got going on a topic that she could and would keep going for a while. Therefore he turned to hear Luna's answer to his question.

"Oh it was fine. Ravenclaw is interesting. Many of them are surrounded by nargles though. I told my roommates that they should get rid of them. They did not seem to understand. I hope that they are not deaf. I would have suggested that they get looked at but I did not want to offend them. I did sleep well though." She answered as she made a pyramid out of her fruit.

"That is good Luna. Too bad about all the nargles though. Let me know if they start taking your things alright. I heard the ones around the school like to do that sometimes and I would hate for your things to go missing if I could prevent it." Harry said taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"That is very kind of you Harry. I will let you know." Harry could tell she was startled by his proclamation. He meant it too. If he saw her without her shoes again, someone was going to be in some serious trouble. He really hoped that she would soon feel comfortable enough with him to come to him if something like that happened to her this time.

It was at that moment that Ginny came in. Harry waved her over. She looked surprised but came over all the same, blushing a bit.

"Hello Ginny, come sit with us."  
"Are you sure? I can do sit here even though I'm a Gryffindor?" She was confused clearly.  
Before Harry could answer in the affirmative, Hermione spoke up. "Sure. We sat together all over the place last year and never got into trouble. Plus it says in Hogwarts A History that you can sit at any table except during feasts. Good Morning Ginny."

"Oh. Cool." With that Ginny sat on the other side of Hermione.

It was not long after that that Neville came in looking harried.

"Sorry guys, I overslept." He said sheepishly as he sat down.

"No problem Nev. We were just finding out how Ginny's night was." Harry told him.

"You were?" Ginny jumped startled.

"Yes. After all Hermione and Luna already told me how there's was. Why wouldn't I want to know how yours was?"

She was stunned. "Oh it was alright. My roommates seem nice enough."

"I am glad. Let me know if you need anything. I want to be sure that you and Luna both are able to settle in well. You guys are my friends after all." He smiled at both Ginny and Luna in turn.

Luna gave him a brilliant smile back whilst Ginny's was more hesitant but still there.

They all returned to their breakfasts to try to finish them before they got their schedules and had to get to their class of the day.

That hope was dashed as Colin Creevey came running up to them or more specifically Harry. Inwardly Harry sighed. He should have known this would happen. It did the last time around after all. He tried to head it off as he saw Lockhart make his way into the Great Hall.

"Hello Harry I'm Colin Creevey. I'm in Hufflepuff too. Is it already if one of your friends takes a picture of us." Colin began excitedly.

"Hello Colin, it is nice to meet you but could we do this later I mean..." Before Harry could get any farther Lockhart walks up.

"Boys what is this. Pictures. Now Creevey there are better times for pictures than the middle of breakfast. Tell you what you come by later and..." Giggling started up around him. "And Harry and I will both.... both..." The laughter had gotten louder. "Now see here, what is the matter students?"

"Sorry Professor." Colin said. "It is just your hair."

"What about my hair?" Lockhart asked.

"Well... um..."

The so called Professor pulled out a mirror, took a look and gasped running from the great hall after getting a good look at his now violet and green streaked hair.

It took a few minutes for the students to calm down and by then it was almost time to leave.

"I tell you what Colin, you never mention anything to anyone and especially around Professor Lockhart and you can have a picture later. I will even sign it alright."

"Gee thanks Harry."Colin said scuttling off to find his first class.

"Potter? Did you just turn the Professor's hair color?" Malfoy said coming up to them.

"Harry tell me you weren't the one to do that." Hermione was obviously appalled.

"I will neither confirm nor deny that statement. I will say that you can not prove anything though." Harry said.

"Oh Harry." Hermione said exasperated.

"Oh look at the time. We must be getting to class." Harry grabbed his bag quickly and made for the door. The others had no choice but to follow him.


End file.
